**, 


SELECT    ORATIONS 


OF 


M.  T.  CICERO. 


TRANSLATED 


BY    C,    D.   YONGE, 


NEW   YORK: 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

PEARL  STREET,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE. 

188  3. 


HARPER'S 

W    CLASSICAL    LIBRARY. 


COMPIIISIMO    LITEEAL    TBANSLATI0K8    OP 


AR. 

LUST. 
ACE. 

enci;. 

IT  US.    2  Vols. 
T.     2  Vols. 

■:ro'S  orations. 
ero's    offices,    l.elius, 
ato  major,  paradoxes, 
scipio's   dream,   letter 

10  QUI  NT  US. 

3R0  ON  ORATORY  AND 

ORATORS. 

PLATO  (SELECT 


CICERO'S  TU3CULAN  DISPUTA- 
TIONS, THE  NATURE  OF  THE 
GODS,  AND  THE  COMMON- 
WEALTH. 

JUVENAL. 

XENOPHON. 

HOMER'S   ILIAD. 

HOMER'S  ODYSSEY. 

HERODOTUS. 

DEMOSTHENES.     2  Volt, 

THUCYDIDES. 

AESCHYLUS. 

SOPHOCLES. 

EURIPIDES.     2  Vols. 
DIALOGUES). 


12mo,  Clotb,  $1  00  per  Volume. 

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•     *-.. 


o 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


53 
97 


237 

249 


PAGW 

First  Oration  against  Catiline...... 

•  Second  Oration  against  Catiline 15 

.Third  Oration  against  Catiline...; 2<J 

Fourth  Oration  against  Catiline 

Oration  for  L.  Marena 

Oration  for  P.  Svlla • 

1  C  4 

:  Oration  for  A.  L.  Archias ±0* 

ration  in  Defense  of  the  proposed  ManilianLavr 147 

,   Oration  for  T.  A.  Milo 17i 

.  oio 

K)ration  for  C.  K.Postumus -1 

Oration  for  M.  C.  MarceH«s 

Oration  for  Q.  Ligarius 

Oration  for  King  Deiotarus -UJ 

The  Focktees  Or.ATio.NS  against  M.  Astosicb,  cai*bd  Pmunncs. 

The  First  Philippic 281 

008 

The  Second  Philippe -°° 

The  Third  Philippic ■••"•SiE 

The  Fourth  Philippic 3G* 

The  Fifth  Philippic 3:0 

The  Sixth  Philippic * 392 

The  Seventh  Philippic 401 

The  Eighth  Philippic 41C 

The  Ninth  Philippic 423 

The  Tenth  Philippic • 43C 

The  Eleventh  Philippic *~J 

The  Twelfth  Philippic 4GC 

The  Thirteenth  Philippic *u 

The  Fourteenth  Philippic *** 

Fourth  Book  of  the  Second  Pleading  in  the  Prosecution  of  Verres 
— Eespecting  the  Statues 


12 


SELECT  ORATIONS  OF  CICERO. 


THE  FIRST  ORATION   OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  LUCIUS 

^    CATILINE. 

DELIVERED    IN    THE    SENATE. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 


Ldciu"  Catiline,  a  man  of  noble  extraction,  and -who  had  already  been 
praeior,  had  been  a  competitor  of  Cicero's  for  the  consulship  ;  the 
year  he  again  offered  himself  for  the  office,  practicing  such  excessive 
\ud  open  bribery,  that  Cicero  published  a  new  law  again  ith  the 

additional  penalty  of  ten  years'  exile  ;   prohibiting  likewise  all  sh 
of  gladiators  from  being  exhibited  bj  a  candidate  within  two  yea 
the  time  of  his  suing  for  any  mag.  ,  ordered  by 

the  will  of  a  person  deceased.      Oatiime,  who  knew  this  law  to  be 
aimed  chiefly  at  him,  for  to  mu;.  :ero  and  some  oth- 

ers of  the  chief  men  of  the  senate,  on  the  day  of  election,  which 
fixed  for  the  twentieth  of  October.     But  Cicero  had  information  of  his 
plai  :  im  before  the  senate,  on  which  the  election  was 

*    ferred.  that  they  might  have  time  to  deliberate  on  an  affair  of  so  much 
^>ortancc.     The  day  following,  when  the  senate  met.  he  charged  < 
line  with  having  entertained  this  design,  and  Catiline's  behavior 
beeji  so  violent,  that  the  seriate  passed  the  decree  to  which  they  had 
urse  in  times  of  imminent  danger  from  treason  or  se- 
dition :  '•  Let  I  .suls  take  care  that  the  republic  su.  1  harm." 
decree  invested  the  consuls  with  absolute  power,  ann  ded 
he  ordinary  forms  of  la^',  till  the  danger  was  over.     On  this  Ci< 
ibled  his  guards,  introduced  some  additional  troops  into  tl 
and  when  the  elections  came  on,  he  w^ore  a  breast-plate  under  his  robe 
for  his  protection  :  by  which  precaution  he  prevented  Catiline  I 
executing  his  design  of  murdering  him  and  his  competitors  for  the  con- 
sulship, of  wmom  Decius  Junius  Silanus  and  Lucius  Licinius  Murera 
re  elected. 

rendered  desperate  by  this  his  second  defeat,  and  resolv 
rther  delay  to  attempt  the  execution  of  all  his  schemes, 
greatest  hopes  lay  in  Sylla's  veteran  8<  Idiers,  whose  :   ;     .  al- 

ps espoused.     They  ■ 
and  colonies  of  Italv  ;  bi  eniisted  a  considcrab',«  1 

A 


%  CKEKO.s  ORATIONS. 

of  them  in  Etruria,  and  formed  them  into  a  little  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  Manlius,  a  centurion  of  considerable  military  experience,  who 
v.  as  only  waiting  for  his  orders.  He  was  joined  in  his  conspiracy  by 
several  senators  of  profligate  lives  and  desperate  fortunes,  of  whom  the 
chiefs  were  Publius  Cornelius  Lentulus,  Caius  Cethegus,  Publius  Au- 
tronius,  Lucius  Cassias  Longinus,  Marcus  Porcius  Lecca,  Publius  Syl- 
la,  Servilius  Sylla,  Ouintus  Curius,  Lucius  Vargunteius,  Quintus  An- 
nius,  and  Lucius  Bestia.  These  men  resolved  that  a  general  insurrec- 
tion should  be  raised  throughout  all  Italy  ;  that  Catiline  should  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  troops  in  Etruria;  that  Rome  should  be  set 
on  fire  in  many  places  at  once  ;  and  that  a  general  massacre  should 
be  made  of  all  the  senate,  and  of  all  their  enemies,  of  whom  none 
were  to  be  spared  but  the  sons  of  Pompey,  who  were  to  be  kept  as 
hostages,  and  as  a  check  upon  their  father,  who  was  in  command  in 
the  East.  Lentulus  was  to  be  president  of  their  councils,  Cassius  was 
to  manage  the  firing  of  the  city,  and  Cethegus  the  massacre.  But,  as 
the  vigilance  of  Cicero  was  the  greatest  obstacle  to  their  success,  Cati- 
line  desired  to  see  him  slain  before  he  left  Rome  ;  and  two  knights, 
parties  to  the  conspiracy,  undertook  to  visit  him  early  on  pretense  of 
business,  and  to  kill  him  in  his  bed.  The  name  of  one  of  them  was 
Caius  Cornelius. 
Cicero,  however,  had  information  of  all  the  designs  of  the  conspirators, 
as  by  the  intrigues  of  a  woman  called  Fulvia,  the  mistress  of  Curius, 
he  had  (rained  him  over,  and  received  regularly  from  him  an  account 
of  all  their  operations.  He  sent  for  some  of  the  chief  men  of  the  city, 
and  informed  them  of  the  plot  against  himself,  and  even  of  the  names 
of  the  knights  who  were  to  come  to  his  house,  and  of  the  hour  at 
which  they  were  to  come.  When  they  did  come  they  found  the  house 
carefully  guarded  and  all  admission  refused  to  them.  He  was  enabled 
also  to  disappoint  an  attempt  made  by  Catiline  to  seize  on  the  town 
of  Prameste,  which  was  a  very  strong  fortress,  and  would  have  been  of 
great  use  to  him.  The  meeting  of  the  conspirators  had  taken  pla.c?  on 
the  evening  of  the  sixth  of  November.  On  the  eighth  Cicero  sum- 
moned the  senate  to  meet  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  in  the  Capitol,  a 
place  which  was  only  used  lor  this  purpose  on  occasions  of  great  dan- 
ger. (There  had  been  previously  several  debates  on  the  subject  of 
Catiline's  treasons  and  design  of  murdering  Cicero,  and  a  public  »• 
ward  had  actually  been  offered  to  the  first  discoverer  of  the  plot.  But 
Catiline  had  nevertheless  continued  to  dissemble  ;  had  offered  to  give 
security  for  his  behavior,  and  to  deliver  himself  to  the  custody  of  any 
one  whom  the  senate  chose  to  name,  even  to  that  of  Cicero  himself) 
Catiline  had  the  boldness  to  .attend  this  meeting,  and  all  the  senate* 
even  his  own  most  particular  acquaintance,  were  so  astonished  at  his 
impudence  that  none  of  them  would  salute  him  ;  the  consular  senators 
quitted  that  part  of  the  house  in  which  he  sat,  and  left  the  bench  emp- 
ty; and  ( 'icero  himself  was  so  provoked  at  his  audacity,  that,  instead 
of  entering  on  any  formal  business,  lie  addressed  himself  directlj  to 
Catili:  e  in  the  following  invective 

I.  When,  0  Catiline,  i  moan  to  >■         abusing  our 

patience1!     I  low  long  is  thai  madness  of  yours  Mill  to  mock 
ii    .'     When  i.-  thi  :«■  to  be  an  on  iat  unbridled  aud 


i.  agai:>  :..  m 

agojering  about  as  it  does  now?     Do  not  'ighty 

atine  Hill — do  not  the  watches  posted 

ihe  city — does  no  larm  of  the  people,  and 

•  union  of  all  good  men — does  not  the  precaution  taken  of 

^nbling  the  senate  in  this  moa  nsible  place — do  not  the 

>ks  and  countenances  of  thre1  venerable  body  here  present, 

have  any  effect  upon  you?     Do  you  not  feel  that  your  plans 

detected  !     Do  you  not  see  that  your  conspiracy  is  already 

arrested  and  rendered  powerless  by  the  knowledge  which 

one  here  po  What  is  there  that  you  did 

what  the  nieht  before — where  is  it  that  vou  were — who 
that  you  summoned  to  meet  you — what  design  was 
which  was  adopted  by  you,  with  which  you  think  ti 
of  us  is  unacquainted  ? 
Shame  on  the  age  and  c;  principles!     The  senate 

are  of  these   things ;  the  consul  sees  them  ;  and  yet  this 
.11  lives.     lives !  ay,  he  com.  n  into  the  senate.     He 

a  part  in  the  public  deliberations ;  he  is  watching  and 
marking  down  and  checking  off  for  sla  r  every  inch  vidua! 

And  we,  gallant  men  I  e  are,  think  that  we 

doing  our  duty  to  the  republic  if  we  keep  out  of  the  way 
of  his  phren-ied  attacks. 

You  ought,  O  (  atiline.  long  ago  to  have  been  led  to  execu- 
tion by  command  of  the  consul.     That  desl  n  which  you 
e  been  long  plotting  against  us  ought  to  have  already  fali- 
€i^  on  ;  i   •:   oy  v-  1.  ad. 

Did  not  th;  t  illustrious  man,  Pul 

the  Pontife>  imus,  in  his  capacity  of  a  private  citizon,  , 

ith  Tiberius  Gracchus,  though  but  slightly  undermining 
Destitution?     And  shall  we,  who  are  the  consuls,  tolerate 
.ie,  opeidy  desirous  to  destroy  the  whole  world  with  I 
and    sli  For  I  pass    over   oMer   instances,  such 

how  (  hala  with  his   own  hand  slew  Spur 

lotting  duiion  in  the  state.     There  was — 

ich  virtue  in  this  republic,  that  brave  m 
ievous  citizens  with  severer  chastisenu 
in  the  most  bitter  enemy.      For  we  have  a  resolution2  of 

;  This  was  Scioto  Nasica,  who  called  on  the  consul  Mucius  Scsevo! 
id  save  the  republic;  but  as  he  refused  to  put 
.    lout  a  trial,  Scipi.  on  all  the  citizens  to  follow  hi:, 

which  has  bad  occup  "h*  his  par 

I  slew  many  of  the  partisans  of  Gracchus,  and  Gracchus  him- 

->n  was  couched  in  the  form  "  Videant  Consules  ne- 


4  CICERO'S  ORATlU.Ns 

the  senate,  a  formidable  and  authoritative  decree  against  you, 
O  Catiline  ;  the  "u  isdom  of  the  republic  is  not  at  fault,  nor  I 
dignity  of  this  senatorial  body.    We,  we  alone — I  say  it  ope 
— we,  the  consuls,  are  wanting  in  our  duty. 

II.  The  senate  once  passed  a  decree  that  Lucius  Opimi  , . . 
the  consul,  should  take  care  that  the  republic  suffered  no  injury. 
Not  one  night  elapsed.  There  was  put  to  death,  on  so 
mere  suspicion  of  disaffection,  Caius  Gracchus,  a  man  wb 
family  had  borne  the  most  unblemished  reputation  for  many 
generations.  There  was  slain  Marcus  Fulvius,  a  man  of  con- 
sular rank,  and  all  his  children.  By  a  like  decree  of  the  sen- 
ate the  safety  of  the  republic  was  intrusted  to  Caius  Marius1 
and  Lucius  Valerius,  the  consuls.  Did  not  the  vengeance  of 
the  republic,  did  not  execution  overtake  Lucius  Saturninus,  a 
tribune  of  the  people,  and  Caius  Servilius,  the  praetor,  jarithflnt 
the  delay  of  one  single  day?  But  we,  for4hese  twenty  day  , 
have  been  allowing  the  edge  of  the  senate's  authority  to  grow 
blunt,  as  it  were.  For  we  are  in  possession  of  a  similar  de- 
cree of  the  senate,  but  we  keep  it  locked  up  in  its  parchment 
" — buried,  I  may  say,  in  the  sheath  ;  and  according  to  this  de- 
cree you  ought,  O  Catiline,  to  be  put  to  death  tin-  instant. 
You  live — and  you  live,  not  to  lay  aside,  but  to  persist  in  your 
audacity. 

I  wish,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  be  merciful ;  I  wish  noi 
appear  negligent  amid  such  danger  to  the  state  ;  but  I  do  now 
accuse  myself  of  remissness  and  culpable  inactivity.  A  camp 
is  pitched  in  Italy,  at  the  entrance  of  Etmria,  in  hostility  to 
the  republic;  the  number  of  the  enemy  increases  every  day; 
and  yet  the  general  of  that  camp,  the  leader  of  those  enemies, 
we  see  within  the  walls — ay,  and  even  in  the  senate — plan- 
ning every  day  some  internal  injury  to  the  republic*.  If.  O 
Catiline,  I  should  now  order  you  to  be  arrested,  to  be  put  to 
death,  I  should,  T  suppose,  have  to  fear  lest  all  good  nun  should 

.  that  I  had  acted  tardily,  rather  than  that  any  one  should 
affirm  that  I  acted  cruelly.  But  yet  this,  which  ought  to 
have  been  done  long  since,  I  have  good  reason  for  not  doing 
as  yet ;  I  will  put  you  to  death,  then,  when  there  shall  be  noi 

publica  detriment]  capiat  :"  ami  it  exempted  the  consuls  from  all  ob- 
ligation to  attend  to  the  ordinary  forme  of  law,  and  invested  ihem  with 
absolute   power  over  the   lives  of  all  the  citizens  who  were  intrigurnj 
against  the  republic. 

1  This  is  the  same  incidi  nt  that  ia  the  subject  of  the  preceding  ova 
in  defense  of  Rabirius 


1.  AGAINST  TILINE. 


one  person  possible  to  be  found  so  wicked,  so  abandoned, 
like  your  is  not  to  allow  that  it  has  been  rightly  done. 

As  long  as  one  person  exists  who  can  id  you,  you 

shall  live;  but  you  shall  live  >u  do  now,  surrounded  by 

many  and  trusty  guards,  so  that  you  shall  not  be  able  to 
stir  one  fing  ublic :   mant  and  * 

still  ol  b  you,  as  they  I  dtherto  d 

you  shall  not  perceive  th< 

III.  For  what  is  there,  O  Catiline,  that  you  can  still  exp 

if  night  is  not  able  to  veil  your  nefarious  meetings  in  dark- 
ss,  and  if  private  houses  can  not  conceal  the  voice  of  your 
conspiracy  within  their  walls — if  every  thing  is  seen  and  <i 
played  f     Change  your  mind  :  trust  me :  forget  the  slaughter 
und  conflagration  you  are  meditatir        You  are  hemmec 
all  sides;  all  your  plan  learer  than  the  day  to  us; 

j ae  remind  j*ou  of  them.     Do  you  recollect  that  on  the  21st 
of  October  I  said  in  the  senate,  that  on  a  certain  day,  which 
s  to  be  the  27th  of  October,  C.  Manlius,  th  iiite  and 

vant  of  your  audacity,  would  be  in  arms  1    Was  I  mistab 
Catiline,  not  only  in  so  important,  so  atrocious,  so  incredible 
a  fact,  but,  what  is  much  more  remarkable,  in  the  y? 

I  said  also  in  the  senate  that  you  had  fixed  the  massacre  of 
the  nobles  for  the  28th  of  October,  when  many  chief  men  of 
the  senate  had  left  Home,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  saving 
the  as  of  checking  your  designs.     Can  you  deny  that 

ery  day  you  were  so  hemmed  in  by  my 
my  vigilance,  thai  you  were  unable  to  stir  one  fin  gainst 

the  republic;  when  you  said  that  you  would  be  content  wil 

t  of  the  rest,  and  the  . titer  of  us  who  remai 

What?  v  it  you  would  h 

Prs  .irst  of  November  by  a  nocturnal  k,  did 

i  not  find  that  that  colony  was  fortified  by  my  ordei 
on,  by  my  watchfulr;  d  care  ?     You  do 

ing,  you  plan  nothing,  think  of  nothing  which  I  not  only  do 
not  h  •  I  do  not  - 

of. 

IV.  Listen  while  I  speak  of  the  night  befo         Yoi 
nov  hat  i  watch  tar  more  actively  for  th 

do  for  tl  ruction  of  the  republic     I  say  I 

the    night   before   (1    will"  say   nothing    obscurely)   int 

,  to  the  house  of  Marcus  I 
■ 


t;  CICERO'S  ORATIONS, 

ness  came  there  too.  Do  you  dare  to  deny  it  ?  "Why  are  you 
silent?  I  will  prove  it  if  you  do  deny  it;  for  I  see  here  in 
the  senate  some  men  who  were  there  with  you. 

O  ye  immortal  Gods,  where  on  earth  are  we  ?  in  what  city 
are  we  living?  what  constitution  is  ours?  There  are  here — 
here  in  our  body,  O  conscript  fathers,  in  this  the  most  holy 
and  dignified  assembly  of  the  whole  world,  men  who  meditate 
my  death,  and  the  death  of  all  of  us,  and  the  destruction  of 
this  city,  and  of  the  whole  world.  I,  the  consul,  see  them  ;  I 
ask  them  their  opinion  about  the  republic,  and  I  do  not  yet  at- 
tack, even  by  words,  those  who  ought  to  be  put  to  death  by 
the  sword.  You  were,  then,  O  Catiline,  at  Lecca's  that  night ; 
you  divided  Italy  into  sections ;  you  settled  where  every  one 
was  to  go  j  you  fixed  whom  you  were  to  leave  at  Rome,  wh<oni 
you  were  to  take  with  you  ;  you  portioned  out  the  divisions 
of  the  city  for  conflagration  ;  you  undertook  that  you  yourself 
would  at  once  leave  the  city,  and  said  that  there  was  then 
only  this  to  delay  you,  that  I  was  still  alive.  Two  Roman 
knights  were  found  to  deliver  you  from  this  anxiety,  and  to 
promise  that  very  night,  before  daybreak,  to  slay  me  in  my 
bed.  All  this  I  knew  almost  before  your  meeting  had  broken 
up.  I  strengthened  and  fortified  my  house  with  a  stronger 
guard ;  I  refused  admittance,  when  they  came,  to  those  whom 
you  sent  in  the  morning  to  salute  me,  and  of  "whom  I  had  fore- 
told to  many  eminent  men  that  they  would  come  to  me  at  that 
time. 

V.  As,  then,  this  is  the  case,  O  Catiline,  continue  as  you 
have  begun.  Leave  the  city  at  last :  the  gates  are  open  ; 
depart.  That  Manlian  camp  of  yours  has  been  waiting  too 
long  for  you  as  its  general.  And  lead  forth  with  you  all  your 
friends,  or  at  least  as  many  as  you  can  ;  purge  the  city  of 
your  presence  ;  you  will  deliver  me  from  a  great  fear,  when 
there  is  a  wall  between  me  and  you.  Among  us  you  can 
dwell  no  longer — I  will  not  bear  it,  I  will  not  permit  it,  I  will 
not  tolerate  i1  Great  thanks  are  due  to  the  immortal  god-, 
and  to  this  very  Jupiter  Stator,  in  whose  temple  we  are,  the 
most  ancient  protector  of  this  city,  that  we  have  already  so 
often  escaped  so  foul,  so  horrible,  and  so  deadly  an  enemy  to 
l!,e  republic.  BuMhe  safety  of  the  commonwealth  must  not 
In'  too  often  allowed  to  be  risked  on  one  man.  As  long 
you,  O  Catiline,  plotted  against  me  while  I  was  the  consul 
elect,  I  defended  myself  not  with  a  public  guard,  but  bj  my 


I.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  7 

own  private  diligence.  When,  in  the  next  consular  comitia, 
vou  wished  to  slay  me  when  I  was  actually  consul,  and  your 
competitors  also,  in  the  Campus  Marti  us,  I  checked  your  nefari- 
ous attempt  by  the  assistance  and  resources  of  my  own  friends, 
without  exciting  any  disturbance  publicly.  In  short,  as  often 
as  you  attacked  me,  I  by  myself  opposed  you,  and  that,  too, 
though  I  saw  that  my  ruin  was  connected  with  great  disaster 

1  .he  republic.     But  now  you  are  openly  attacking  the  entire 
republic. 

You  are  summoning  to  destruction  and  devastation  the  tem- 
ples of  the  immortal  gods,  the  houses  of  the  .city,  the  lives  of 
all  the  citizens;  in  short,  all  Italy. /x  Wherefore,  since  I  do  not 
yet  venture  to  do  that  which  is  the  best  thing,  and  which  1 
longs  to  my  office  and  to  the  discipline  of  our  ancestors,  I  will 
do  that  which  is  more  merciful  if  we  regard  its  rigor,  and 
more  expedient  for  the  state.  For  if  I  order  you  to  be  put 
to  death,  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  will  still  remain  in  the 
republic ;  if,  as  I  have  long  been  exhorting  you,  you  depart, 
your  companions,  these  worthless  dregs  of  the  republic,  will 
be  drawn  off  from  the  city  too.  What  is  the  matter,  Cati- 
line? Do  you  hesitate  to  do  that  when  I  order  you  which  you 
were  already  doing  of  your  own  accord?  The  consul  orders 
an  enemy  to  depart  from  the  city.  Do  you  ask  me,  Are  you 
to  go  into  banishment  ?  I  do  not  order  it ;  but,  if  you  con- 
sult me,  I  advise  it. 

VI.  For  what  is  there,  O  Catiline,  that  can  now  afford  you 
any  pleasure  in  this  city  '.  for  there  is  no  one  in  it,  except  that 
band  of  profligate  conspirators  of  yours,  who  does  not  fear  you 
— no  one  who  does  not  hate  you.  What  brand  of  domestic 
baseness  is  not  stamped  upon  your  life  ?  What  disgraceful 
circumstance  is  wanting  to  your  infamy  in  your  private  af- 
fairs ?  From  what  licentiousness  have  your  eyes,  from  what 
atrocity  have  your  hands,  from  what  iniquity  has  your  whole 
body  ever  abstained?  Is  there  one  youth,  when  you  have 
once  entangled  him  in  the  temptations  of  your  corruption,  to 
whom  you  have  not  held  out  a  sword  for  audacious  crime,  or 
a  torch  for  licentious  wickeclu. 

What?  when  lately  by  the  death  of  your  former  wife  you 
had  made  your  house  empty  and  ready  for  a  new  bridal,  did 
you  not  even  add  another  incredible  wickedness  to  this  wicked- 
ness? But  I  pass  that  over,  and  willingly  allow  it  to  be  bur- 
ied in  silence,  that  so  horrible  a  crime  may  not  be  s<  ve 


S  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

existed  in  this  city,  and  not  to  have  been  chastised.  I  pa 
over  the  ruin  of  your  fortune,  which  you  know  is  hanging  over 
you  against  the  ides  of  the  very  next  month ;  I  come  to  those 
things  which  relate  not  to  the  infamy  of  your  private  vices,  not 
to  your  domestic  difficulties  and  baseness,  but  to  the  welfare  of 
the  republic  and  to  the  lives  and  safety  of  us  all. 

Can  the  light  of  this  life,  O  Catiline,  can  the  breath  of  this 
'mosphere  be  pleasant  to  you,  when  you  know  that  there  is 
not  one  man  of  those  here  present  who  is  ignorant  that  you,  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year,  when  Lepidus  and  Tullus  were  con- 
suls, stood  in  the  assembly  armed  ;  that  you  had  prepared  your 
hand  for  the  slaughter  of  the  consuls  and  chief  men  of  the 
state,  and  that  no  reason  or  fear  of  yours  hindered  your  crime 
and  madness,  but  the  fortune  of  the  republic  ?  And  I  say  no 
more  of  these  things,  for  they  are  not  unknown  to  avery  one. 
How  often  have  you  endeavored  to  shiv  m£,  both  as  consul 
elect  and  as  actual  consul  ?  uoav  nianyS^Stjpof  yours,  so  aimed 
that  they  seemed  impossible  to  be  escaped,  have  I  avoided  by 
some  slight  stooping  aside,  and  some  dodging,  as  it  were,  of  my 
body?  You  attempt  nothing,  you  execute  nothing,  you  devise 
nothing  that  can  be  kept  hid  from  me  at  the  proper  time  ;  and 
yet  you  do  not  cease  to  attempt  and  to  contrive.  How  often 
already  has  that  dagger  of  yours  been  Avrested  from  your  hand.-  I 
how  often  has  it  slipped  through  them  by  some  chance,  and 
dropped  down?  and  yet  you  can  not  any  longer  do  without 
it ;  and  to'what  sacred  mysteries  it  is  consecrated  and  devol  1 
by  you  I  know  not,  that  you.  think  it  necessary  to  plunge  it  in 

the  hotly  yf  the  ermsnl 

VII.  But  now,  what  is  that  life  of  yours  that  you  are  lead- 
ing? For  I  will  speak  to  you  not  so  as  to  seem  influenced 
by  the  hatred  I  ought  to  feel,  but  by  pity,  nothing  of  winch 
is  due  to  you.  You  came  a  little  while  ago  into  the  senate  : 
in  so  numerous  an  assembly,  who  of  so  many  friends  and  con- 
nections of  yours  saluted  you  ?  If  this  in  the  memory  of  man 
never  happened  to  any  one  else,  are  you  waiting  for  insults  by 
word  of  mouth,  when  you  arc  overwhelmed  by  the  most  irre- 
-tible  condemnation  of  silence?  Is  it  nothing  that  at  your 
arrival  all  those  Beats  were  vacated  ?  that  all  the  men  of  con- 
sular rank,  who  had  often  been  marked  out  by  you  tor  slaugh- 
ter, the  very  moment  you  sat  down,  left  that  pari  of  the 
benches  bare  and  vacant  I  With  what  feelings  do  you  think 
you  ought  to  bear  (his?     On  my  honor,  if  my  slaves  fear 


i! 


II.  AGAINST  L.  CATILr  \  , 

saw  the  enemy  without  disguise.     But  how  exceedingly 1  think 

this  enemy  to  be  feared  now  that  he  is  out  of  doors,  you  may 

•  from  this — that  I  am  vexed  even  that  he  !  ne  from  the 

y  with  but  a  small  retinue.     I  wish  lie  had  taken  with  him 

all  his  forces.     He  has  taken  with  him  Tongillus,  with  whom 

he  had  been  said  to  have  a  criminal  intimacy,  and  Publicius, 

and  Munatius.  whose  debts  contracted  in  taverns  could  can 

no  great  disquietude  to  the  republic.     He  has  left  behind  him 

pthers — you  all  know  what  men  they  are,  how  overwhelmed 

jttith  debt,  how  powerful,  how  noble. 

III.  Therefore,  with  our  Gallic  legions,  and  with  the  le 
wiiich  Quintus  Metellus  has  raised  in  the  Picenian  and  Gallic 
territory,  and  with  these  troops  which  are  every  day  being  got, 
ready  by  us,  I  thoroughly  despise  that  army  composed  of  d 
perate  old  men,  of  clownish  profligates,  and  uneducated  spend- 
thrifts ;  of  those  who  have  preferred  to  desert  their  bail  rather 
than  that  army,  and  which  will  fall  to  pieces  if  I  show  them 
not  the  battle  array  of  our  army,  but  an  edict  of  the  praetor. 
I  wish  he  had  taken  with  him  those  soldiers  of  his,  whom  I 
see  hovering  about  the  forum,  standing  about  the  senate-house, 
even  coming  into  tha  senate,  who  shine  with  ointment,  who 
glitter  in  purple  ;  and  if  they  remain  here,  remember  that  that 
army  is  not  so  much  to  be  feared  by  us  as  these  men  who  have 
deserted  the  army.  And  they  are  the  more  to  be  feared,  be- 
cause they  are  aware  that  I  know  what  they  are  thinking  of, 
and  y>A  they  are  not  influenced  by  it. 

I  know  to  whom  Apulia  has  been  allotted,  who  has  Etru- 
ria,  who  the  Picenian  territory,  who  the  Gallic  district,  who 
has.  begged  for  himself  the  office  of  spreading  fire  and  sword 
by  night  through  the  city.     They  know  that   all  the  plans 

the   preceding   night    are  brought    to    me.     I   laid   th 
before  the  senate  yesterday.     Catiline  himself  was  alarmed, 
fled.     Why  do  these  men  wait1?  :ily,  they  are  greatly 

taken  if  they  think  that  former  lenity  of  mine  will  last 
.forever. 

IV.  What  I  have  been  waiting  for,  that  I  have  gained— 
namely,  that  you  should  all  see  that  a  conspiracy  has  been 
openly  formed  against  the  republic ;  unless,  iiw  there  be 
any  one  who  thinks  that  those  who  are  like  Catiline  do  not 

h  Catiline.     There  is  not  any  longer  room  for  lenii 
the  business  itself  demands  severity.     One  thing,  even  now. 
will  graat — let  them  depart,  let  them  begone.     Let  th 


»«* 


IS  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

not  suffer  the  unhappy  Catiline  to  pine  away  for  want  of 
them.  I  will  tell  them  the  road.  He  went  by  the  Auredan 
road.  If  they  make  haste,  they  will  catch  him  by  iho 
evening.  O  happy  republic,  if  it  can  cast  forth  these  dregs  oi' 
the  republic!  Even  now,  when  Catiline  alone  is  got  rid  of, 
the  republic  Beema  to  me  relieved  and  refreshed;  for  what  e\  il 
or  wickedness  can  be  devised  or  imagined  which  he  did  not 
conceive  \  What  prisoner,  what  gladiator,  what  thief,  what 
sassin,  what  parricide,  what  forger  of  wills,  what  cheat, 
what  debauchee,  what  spendthrift,  what  adulterer,  what 
abandoned  woman,  what  corrupter  of  youth,  what  profli- 
gate, what  scoundrel  can  be  found  in  all  Italy,  who  does  not 
avow  that  he  has  been  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Catiline  ? 
What  murder  has  been  committed  for  years  without  him  % 
What  nefarious  act  of  infamy  that  has  not  been  done  by 
him  .; 

But  in  what  other  man  were  there  ever  so  many  allurements 
for  youth  as  in  him,  who  both  indulged  in  infamous  love  for 
others,  and  encouraged  their  infamous  affections  for  himself, 
promising  to  some  enjoyment  of  their  lust,  to  others  the  death 
of  their  parents,  and  not  only  instigating  them  to  iniquity, 
but  even  assisting  them  in  it.  But  now,  how  suddenly  had 
he  collected,  not  only  out  of  the  city,  but  even  out  of  the 
country,  a  number  of  abandoned  men  ?  No  one,  not  only  at 
Rome,  but  in  every  corner  of  Italy,  was  overwhelmed  with 
debt  whom  he  did  not  enlist  in  this  incredible  association  of 
wickedness. 

V.  And,  that  you  may  understand  the  diversity  of  his  pur- 
suits, and  the  variety  of  his  designs,  there  was  no  one  in  any 
school  of  gladiators,  at  all  inclined  to  audacity,  who  does  not 
avow  himself  to  be  an  intimate  friend  of  Catiline — no  one  on 
the  stage,  at  all  of  a  fickle  and  worthless  disposition,  who  does 
not  profess  himself  his  companion.  And  he,  trained  in  the 
practice  of  insult  and  wickedness,  in  enduring  cold,  and  hun- 
ger, and  thirst,  and  watching,  was  called  a  brave  man  by  those 
fellows,  while  all  the  appliances  of  industry  and  instruments 
of  virtue  were  devoted  to  lust  and  atrocity. 

But  if  his  companions  follow  him — if  the  infamous  herd  of 

operate  men  depart  from  the  city,  O  happy  shall  we  be.  for- 
tunate will  be  the  republic,  illustrious  Avill  lie  the  renown  of 
my  consulship.  For  theirs  is  no  ordinary  insolence — no  com- 
mon and  endurable  audacity.     They  think  of  nothing  but 


II.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  lU 

slaughter,  conflagration,  and   rapine.     They  hav  ipated 

their  patrimonies,  they  have  squandered  their  fortunes.     Mon- 
ey has  long  failed  them,  and  now  credit  begins  to  fail;  but  I 
same  desir-  8  remain  which  they  had  in  their  I 
ance.     But   if  in   their  drinking   and  gambling 
were  content  with  feasts  and  harlots,  they  would  bo  in  a  hopc- 

s  state  indeed ;  but  yet  they  might  be  endured.  But  who 
can  bear  this — that  indolent  men  should  plot  against  I 
bravest ;  drunkards  against  the  sober  ;  men  asleep  against  men 
awake  ;  men  lying  at  feasts,  embracing  abandoned  women,  lan- 
guid with  wine,  crammed  with  food,  crowned  with  chapl 
reeking  with  ointments,  worn  out  with  lust,  belch  out  in  their 
discourse  the  murder  of  all  good  men,  and  the.  conflagration 
of  the  city  ? 

But  I  am  confident  that  some  fate  is  hanging  over  these  men ; 
and  that  the  punishment  long  since  due  to  their  iniquity,  and 
worthies-  and  wickedness,  and  lust,  is  either  visibly  at 

hand  or  at  least  rapidly  approaching.     And  if  my  consulship 
shall  have  removed,  since  it  can  not  cure  them,  it  will  have 
added,  not  some  brief  span,  but  many  ages  of  existence  to  the 
republic.     For  there  is  no  nation  for  us  to  fear — no  king  who 
can  make  war  on  the  Roman  people.     All  foreign  affairs 
tranquilked,  both  by  land  and  sea,  by  the  valor  of  one  man. 
Domestic  war  alone  remains.     The  only  plots  against  us 
within  our  own  walls — the  danger  is  within — the  enemy  is 
within.     We  must  war  with  luxury,  with  madness,  with  wit 
edness.     For  this  war,  O  citizens,  I  offer  myself  as  the  g> 
eral.     I  take  on  myself  the  enmity  of  profligate  men.      What 
can  be  cured,  I  will  cure,  by  whatever  means  it  may  be  possi- 
ble.    What  must  be  cut  away.  I  will  not  suffer  to  S]  .  1. 
the  ruin  of  the  republic.     Let  them  depart,  or  let  them  stay 
quiet ;  or  if  they  remain  in  the  city  and  in  the  same  disp< 
tion  as  at  present,  let  them  expect  what  they  deserve. 

VI.  But  there  are  men,  O  Romans,  who  say  that  Catili 
J^has  been  driven  by  me  into  banishment.     But  if  I  con 
so  by  a  word,  I  would  drive  but  those  also  who  say  so.     Fc 
sooth,  that  timid,  that  excessively  bashful  man  coi 
the  voice  of  the  consul:  as  soon  as  he  was  ordered  to  go  h 
banishment,  he  obeyed,  he  was  quiet.     Yesterday, 
been   all  but  murdered  at  my  own  house,  I  coin 
senate  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator ;  I  related  th 
affair   to  the    conscript    fathers;    and    when 


20  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

thither,  -what  senator  addressed  him  ?  who  saluted  him  ?  whG 
looked  upon  him  not  so  mueh  even  as  an  abandoned  citizen, 
as  an  implacable  enemy  ?  Nay  the  chiefs  of  that  body  left 
that  part  of  the  benches  to  which  he  came  naked  and  empty. 

On  this  I,  that  violent  consul,  who  drive  citizens  into  exile 
by  a  word,  asked  of  Catiline  whether  he  had  been  at  the  noc- 
turnal meeting  at  Marcus  Lecca's,  or  not;  when  that  most 
audacious  man,  convicted  by  his  own  conscience,  was  at  first 
silent.  I  related  all  the  other  circumstances ;  I  described  what 
he  had  done  that  night,  where  he  had  been,  what  he  had  ar- 
ranged for  the  next  night,  how  the  plan  of  the  whole  war  had 
1-eer  laid  down  by  him.  When  he  hesitated,  when  he  was 
convicted,  I  asked  why  he  hesitated  to  go  whither  he  had  been 
long  preparing  to  go ;  when  I  knew  that  arms,  that  the  axes, 
the  fasces,  and  trumpets,  and  military  standards,  and  that  sil- 
ver eagle  to  which  he  had  made  a  shrine  in  his  own  house,  had 
been  sent  on,  did  I  drive  him  into  exile  who  I  knew  had  al- 
ready entered  upon  war?  I  suppose  Manlius,  that  centurion 
who  has  pitched  his  camp  in  the  F&sulan  district,  has  pro- 
claimed war  against  the  Roman  people  in  his  own  name ;  and 
that  camp  is  not  now  waiting  for  Catiline  as  its  general,  and 
-he,  driven  forsooth  into  exile,  will  go  to  Marseilles,  as  they  say, 
and  not  to  that  camp. 

VH.  O  the  hard  lot  of  those,  not  only  of  those  who  govern, 
but  even  of  those  who  save  the  republic.  Now,  if  Lucius 
Catiline,  hemmed  in  and  rendered  powerless  by  my  cow  - ••!-. 
by  my  toils,  by  my  dangers,  should  on  a  sudden  become 
alarmed,  should  change  his  designs,  should  desert  his  friends, 
Lould  abandon  his  design  of  making  war,  should  change  his 

<ii  from  this  course  of  wickedness  and  war,  and  betake  him- 
self to  flight  and  exile,  he  will  not  be  said  to  have  beeo 
deprived  by  me  of  the  arms  of  his  audacity,  to  have  been 

bounded  and  terrified  by  my  diligence,  to  have  been  driven 

from  his  hope  and  from  his  enterprise,  but,  uncondemned  and 

innocent,  to  have  been  driven  into  banishment  by  the  consul 

by  threat^   and  violence;   and  there  will  be   some  who  will 

to   have   him   thought   not   worthless  but   unfortunate, 

d  int'  considi  red  not  a  most  active  consul,  but  a  most  cruel 

rant.  I  am  not  unwilling,  O  Romans,  to  endure  this  storm 
of  false  and  unjust  unpopularity  as  long  as  the  danger  of  this 
horrible  and  nefarious  war  is  warded  oil' from  you.  Let  him 
be  said  to  be  banished  by  me  as  lon<_r  as  he  -. .<  es  into  banish 


II.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE. 


ment ;  but,  believe  me,  he  will  not  go.     I  will  nev 
the  immortal  gods,  O  Romans,  for  the  sake  o 
own  unpopularity,  for  you  to  hear  that  Lucius 
ing  an  army  of  enemies,  and  is  hovering  aboi 
yet  in  three  days  yoii^jwlHreariT: — Arrd-£~nm 
that  it  will  be  objected  to  me  some  day  or  otiiv     that  I  ni 
let  him  escape,  rather  than  that  I  have  banished  him. 
when  there  are  men  wrho  say  he  has  been  bani. !  e 
has  gone  away,  what  would  these  men  say  if  1        ;     been  - 
to  death  1 

\    Although  those  men  who  keep  saying  that  (  ing 

to  Marseilles  do  not  complain'  df  this  so  much  it ; 

for  there  is  not  one  of  them  so  inclined  to  pity,  fer 

that  he  should  go  to  Manlius  rather  than  to  Marseil]  But 

he,  if  he  had  never  before  planned  what  he  is  now  doinj 
would  rather  be  slain  while  living  as  a  bandit,  I 
exile;  but  now,  when  nothing  has  happened  to  I 
to  his  owti  wish  and  design — except,  indeed,  that  h 
Rome  while  we  are  alive — let  us  wish  rather  that  he  may  go. 
into  exile  than  complain  of  it. 

VLLT.  But  why  are  we  speaking  so  long  ab  ;iemy; 

and  about  that  enemy  who  now  avows  that 
whom  I  now  do  not  fear,  because,  as  I  have  al  d,  a 

wall  is  betwreen  us ;  and  are  saying  nothing  a  ho 

dissemble,  who  remain  at  Rome,  who  are  amor  Whon 

indeed,  if  it  were  by  any  means  possible,  I  slit 
not  so  much  to  chastise  as  to  cure,  and  to  e  '         j  to 

the  republic;  nor,  if  they  will  listen  to  me,  d  ow 

why  that  may  not  be.     For  I  will  tell  you.  0   ■■  >mai 
what  classes  of  men  those  forces  are  made  uj  .  I 

can,  I  will  apply  to  each  the  medicine  of  my 
suasion. 

There  is  one  class  of  them,  who,  with  enormr-u- 
still  greater  possessions,  and  wdio  can  by  no   mean 
tached  from  their  aifection  to  them.     Of  thee-    iiei     th<    i 
pearance  is  most  respectable,  for  they  are  wealthy,  but  their 
intention  and  their  cause  are  most  shameless.  be 

rich  in  lands,  in  houses,  in  money  in  slaves,  ir 
yet  hesitafe  ■  is  to  a 

What  '     AVI. 

tat  ion 
will  b 


22  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

They  are  mistaken  who  expect  that  from  Catiline.  There 
may  be  schedules  made  out.  owing  to  my  exertions,  but  they 
will  be  only  catalogues  of  sale.  Nor  can  those  who  have  pos- 
sessions be  sale  by  any  other  means  ;  and  if  they  had  been  will- 
ing to  adopt  this  plan  earlier,  and  not,  as  is  very  foolish,  to 
struggle  on  against  usury  with  the  profits  of  their  forms,  we 
should  have  them  now  richer  and  better  citizens.  But  I  think 
these  men  are  the  least  of  all  to  be  dreaded,  because  they  can 
either  be  persuaded  to  abandon  their  opinions,  or  if  they  cling 
to  them,  they  seem  to  me  more  likely  to  form  wishes  against 
the  republic  than  to  bear  arms  against  it. 

IX.  There  is  another  class  of  them,  who,  although  they  are 
harassed  by  debt,  yet  are  expecting  supreme  power  ;  they  wish 
to  become  masters.  They  think  that  when  the  republic  is  in 
confusion  they  may  gain  those  honors  which  they  despair  of 
when  it  is  in  tranquillity.  And  they  must,  I  think,  be  told 
the  same  as  every  one  else — to  despair  of  obtaining  what  they 
are  aiming  at ;  that  in  the  first  place,  I  myself  am  watchful 
for,  am  present  to,  am  providing  for  the  republic.  Besides 
that,  there  is  a  high  spirit  in  the  virtuous  citizens,  great  una- 
nimity, great  numbers,  and  also  a  large  body  of  troops.  Above 
all  that,  the  immortal  gods  will  stand  by  and  bring  aid  to  this 
invincible  nation,  this  most  illustrious  empire,  this  most  beau- 
tiful city,  against  such  wicked  violence.  And  if  they  had  al- 
ready got  that  which  they  with  the  greatest  madness  wish  for, 
do  they  think  that  in  the  ashes  of  the  city  and  blood  of  the 
citizens,  which  in  their  wicked  and  infamous  hearts  they  desire, 
they  will  become  consuls  and  dictators,  and  even  kings'?  Do 
they  not  see  that  they  are  wishing  for  that  which,  if  they  were 
to  obtain  it,  must  be  given  up  to  some  fugitive  slave,  or  to 
some  gladiator  ? 

There  is  a  third  class,  already  touched  by  age,  but  still 
vigorous  from  constant  exercise;  of  which  class  is  Manlius 
himself,  whom  Catiline  is  now  succeeding.  These  are  men 
of  those  colonics  which  Sylla  established  at  Fs&sulae,  which  I 
know  to  be  composed,  on  the  whole,  of  excellent  citizens  and 
brave  men;  hut  yet  these  are  colonists, who,  from  becoming 
possessed  of  unexpected  and  sudden  wealth,  boast  them- 
selves extravagantly  and  insolently;  these  men,  while  they 
build  like  rich  men.  while  thev  delight  in  farms,  in  litters, 
in  vast  families  of  slaves,  in  luxurious  banquets,  have  in- 
curred such  great   debts,  that,  if  they  would  bs    ■■•'■    '-  ti 


II.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  23 

must  raise  Sylla  from  the  dead ;  and  they  have  even  excited 
some  countrymen,  poor  and  needy  men,  to  entertain,  the. same. 


hopes-of-plunder ~  aa  tlYemselves.  /And  all  these  men,  O  Ko 
mans,  I  place  in  the  same  class  of  robbers  and  banditti.  But, 
I  warn  them,  let  them  cease  to  be  mad,  and  to  think  of  pro- 
scriptions and  dictatorships;  for  such  a  horror  of  these  times 
is  ingrained  into  the  city,  that  not  even  men,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  even  the  jvery  cattle  would  refuse  to  bear  them 


again 


VX.  Therels  a  fourth  class,  various,  promiscuous,  and  tur- 
bulent ;  who  indeed  are  now  overwhelmed ;  who  will  never 
recover  themselves ;  who,  partly  from  indolence,  partly  from 
managing  their  affairs  badly,  partly  from  extravagance,  are 
embarrassed  by  old  debts ;  and  worn  out  with  bail-bonds,  and 
judgments,  and  seizures  of  their  goods,  are  said  to  be  betaking 
themselves  in  numbers  to  that  camp  both  from  the  city  and  the 
country.  These  men  I  think  not  so  much  active  soldiers  as 
lazy  insolvents ;  who,  if  they  can  not  stand  at  first,  may  fall, 
but  fall  so,  that  not  only  the  city  but  even  their  nearest  neigh- 
bors know  nothing  of  it.  For  I  do  not  understand  why,  if 
they  can  not  live  with  honor,  they  should  wish  to  die  shame- 
fully ;  or  why  they  think  they  shall  perish  with  less  pain  in  a 
crowd,  than  if  they  perish  by  themselvej^ 

There  is  a  fifth  'class,  of  parricides,  afe?sinsjb  short  of  all 
infamous-  characters,  whom  I  do  not  wis^HHpll  trom  Cati- 
line, and  indeed  they  can  not  be  separaM^Km  him.  Let 
them  perish  in  their' wicked  war,  since  they  are  so  numerous 
that  a  prison  can  not  contain  them. 

There  is  a  last  class,  last  not  only  in  number  but  in  the 
sort  of  men  and  in  their  way  of  life  ;  the  especial  body-guard 
of  Catiline,  of  his  levying  ;  ay,  the  friends  of  his  embraces  and 
of  his  bosom;  whom  you  see  with  carefully  combed  hair, 
glossy,  beardless,  or  with  well-trimmed  beards ;  with  tunics 
with' sleeves,  or  reaching  to  the  ankles  ;  clothed  with  \eils,  not 
with  robes ;  all  the  industry  of  whose  life,  all  the  labor  of 
whose  watchfulness,  is  expended  in  suppers  lasting  till  day- 
break. 

se  ban  .  H  gaml 

■ 


24  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

they  die,  even  should  Catiline  die,  I  warn  you  that  the  school 
of  Catiline  would  exist  in  the  republic.  But  what  do  those 
wretches  want?  Are  they  going  to  take  their  wives  with 
them  to  the  camp?  How  can  they  do  without  them,  espe- 
cially in  these  nights?  and  how  will  they  endure  the  Apen- 
nines, and  these  frosts,  and  this  snow  ?  unless  they  think  that 
they  will  bear  the  winter  more  easily  because  they  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  dancing  naked  at  their  feasts.  O  war  much 
to  be  dreaded,  when  Catiline  is  going  to  have  his  body-guard 
of  prostitutes ! 

XI.  Array  now,  O  Romans,  against  these  splendid  troops 
of  Catiline,  your  guards  and  your  armies ;  and  first  of  all  op- 
pose to  that  worn-out  and  wounded  gladiator  your  consuls 
and  generals ;  then  against  that  banished  and  enfeebled  troop 
of  ruined  men  lead  out  the  flower  and  strength  of  all  Italy : 
instantly  the  cities  of  the  colonies  and  municipalities  will 
match  the  rustic  mounds  of  Catiline  ;  and  I  will  not  conde- 
scend to  compare  the  rest  of  your  troops  and  equipments  and 
guards  with  the  want  and  destitution  of  that  highwayman. 
But  if,  omitting  all  these  things  in  which  we  are  rich  and  of 
which  he  is  destitute — the  senate,  the  Roman  knights,  the 
people,  the  city,  the  treasury,  the  revenues,  all  Italy,  all  the 
provinces,  ior^j^yfions — if,  I  say,  omitting  all  these  things, 
we  choose  to  <m  Hphe  causes  themselves  which  are  opposed 
to  one  anoth<|^^MEvy  understand  from  that  alone  how  thor- 
oughly prostrate^ffiey  are.  For  on  the  one  side  are  fighting 
modesty,  on  the  other  wantonness;  on  the  one  chastity,  on 
the  other  uncleanness ;  on  the  one  honesty,  on  the  other 
fraud ;  on  the  one  piety,  on  the  other  wickedness :  on  the  one 
consistency,  on  the  other  insanity ;  on  the  one  honor,  on  the 
other  baseness ;  on  the  one  continence,  on  the  other  lust  ;  in 
short,  equity,  temperance,  fortitude,  prudence,  all  the  virtues 
contend  against  iniquity  with  luxury,  against  indolence,  against 
rashness,  against  all  the  vices;  lastly,  abundance  contends 
against  destitution,  good  plans  against  baffled  designs,  wisdom 
against  madness,  well-founded  hope  against  universal  despair. 
In   a  contest   and  war  of  this  sort,  even  if  the  zeal  of  men 

re  to  tail,  will  not  the  immortal  gods  compel  such  numer- 
ous and  excessive  vices  to  be  defeated  by  these  most  eminent 
vi  1-1  lies  I 

XII.  And  as  this  is  the  ease,  O  Romans,  do  ye,  as  1  have 
said  before,  defend  your  house  with  guards  and  vigilance.     J 


II.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  25 

have  taken  care  and  made  arrangements  that  there  shall  be 
sufficient  protection  for  the  city  without  distressing  you  and 
without  any  tumult.  All  the  colonists  and  citizens  of  your 
municipal  towns,  being  informed  by  me  of  this  nocturnal  sally 
of  Catiline,  will  easily  defend  their  cities  and  territories ;  the 
gladiators  which  he  thought  would  be  his  most  numerous  and 
most  trusty  band,  although  they  are  better  disposed  than  part 
of  the  patricians,  will  be  held  in  check  by  our  power.  Quin- 
tus  Metellus,  whom  I,  making  provision  for  this,  sent  on  to 
the  Gallic  and  Picenian  territory,  will  either  overwhelm  the 
man,  or  will  prevent  all  his  motions  and  attempts ;  but  with 
respect  to  the  arrangement  of  all  other  matters,  and  maturing 
and  acting  on  our  plans,  we  shall  consult  the  senate,  which, 
as  you  are  aware,  is  convened. 

Now  once  more  I  wish  those  who  have  remained  in  the 
city,  and  who,  contrary  to  the  safety  of  the  city  and  of  all  of 
you,  have  been  left  in  the  city  by  Catiline,  although  they  are 
enemies,  yet  because  they  were  born  citizens,  to  be  warned 
again  and  again  by  me.  If  my  lenity  has  appeared  to  any 
one  too  remiss,  it  has  been  only  waiting  that  that  might  break 
out  which  was  lying  hid.  As  to  the  future,  I  can  not  now 
forget  that  this  is  my  country,  that  I  ain^^onsul  of  these 
citizens  ;  that  I  must  either  live  with  th&Hfij  ftfce  for  them. 
There  is  no  guard  at  the  gate,  no  one^B  j  against  their 

path  ;  if  any  one  wishes  to  go,  he  can  prov]  r  himself;  but 

if  any  one  stirs,  in  the  city,  and  if  I  detect  ql  nly  any  action, 
but  any  attempt  or  design  against  the  counrr^he  shall  feel 
that  there  are  in  this  city  vigilant  consuls,  eminent  magis- 
trates, a  brave  senate,  arms,  and  prisons ;  which  our  ancestors 
appointed  as  the  avengers  of  nefarious  and  convicted  crimes. 

XIII.  And  all  this  shall  be  so  done,  O  Romans,  that  affairs 
•of  the  greatest  importance  shall  be  transacted  with  the  least 
possible  disturbance;  the  greatest  dangers  shall  be  avoided 
without  any  tumult ;  an  internal  civil  war  the  most  cruel  and 
terrible  in  the  memory  of  man,  shall  be  put  an  end  to  by 
me  alone  in  the  robe  of  peace  acting  as  general  and  com- 
mander-in-chief. And  this  I  will  so  arrange,  O  Romans,  that 
if  it  can  be  by  any  means  managed,  even  the  most  worthless 
man  shall  not  suffpr  the  punishment  of  his  crimes  in  this 
city.  But  if  the  violence  of  open  audacity,  if  danger  impend- 
ing over  the  republic  drives  me  of  necessity  from  this  merci- 
ful disposition,  at  all  events  I  will  manage  this,  which  seems 

B 


26  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

scarcely  even  to  be  hoped  for  in  so  great  and  so  treacherous  a 
war,  that  no  good  man  shall  fall,  and  that  you  may  all  be 
saved  by  the  punishment  of  a  few. 

And  I  promise  you  this,  O  Romans,  relying  neither  on  my 
own  prudence,  nor  on  human  counsels,  but  on  many  and  man- 
ifest intimations  of  the  will  of  the  immortal  gods ;  under  whose 
guidance  I  first  entertained  this  hope  and  this  opinion ;  who 
are  now  defending  their  temples  and  the  houses  of  the  city,  not 
afar  off,  as  they  were  used  to,  from  a  foreign  and  distant  ene- 
my, but  here  on  the  spot,  by  their  own  divinity  and  present 
help.  And  you,  O  Romans,  ought  to  pray  to  and  implore  them 
to  defend  from  the  nefarious  wickedness  of  abandoned  citizens, 
now  that  all  the  forces  of  all  enemies  are  defeated  by  land  and 
sea,  this  city  which  they  have  ordained  to  be  the  most  beautis 
ful  and  flourishing  of  all  cities. 


THE  THIRD  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  LUCIUS 

CATILINE. 


RESSED    TO    THE    PEOPLE. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 


While  Cicero  was  addressing  the  preceding  speech  to  the  people,  a  de- 
bate was  going  on  in  the  senate  of  which  we  have  no  account.  In  the 
mean  while  Catiline,  after  staying  a  few  days  on  the  road  to  raise  the 
country  as  he  passed  along,  where  his  agents  had  been  previously  busy 
among  the  people,  proceeded  to  Manlius's  camp  with  the  fasces  and  all 
the  ensigns  of  military  command  displayed  before  him.  Upon  this 
news  the  senate  immediately  declared  him  and  Manlius  public  enemies  ;  ■ 
they  offered  pardon  to  all  his  followers  who  should  return  to  their  duty 
by  a  certain  day  ;  and  ordered  the  consuls  to  make  new  levies,  and 
that  Antonius  should  follow  Catiline  with  his  army,  and  Cicero  remain 
behind  to  protect  the  city. 

In  the  mean  time  Lentulus,  and  the  other  conspirators  who  remained  be- 
hind, were  proceeding  with  their  designs.  And  among  other  steps, 
they  decided  on  endeavoring  to  tamper  with  some  embassadors  from 
the  Allobroges,1  who  were  at  that  moment  within  the  city,  as  the  Allo- 
broges  were  supposed  not  to  be  very  well  affected  to  the  Roman  power. 
At  first  these  embassadors  appear  to  have  willingly  given  ear  to  their 

1  The  Allobroges  occupied  the  districts  of  Dauphine  and  Savoy. 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  27 

proposals  ;  but  after  a  while  they  began  to  consider  the  difficulty  of 
the  business  proposed  to  them,  and  the  danger  which  would  ensue  to 
their  state  if  it  failed  after  they  had  become  implicated  in  it ;  and  ac- 
cordingly they  revealed  the  business  to  Quintus  Fabius  Sanga,  the  pa- 
tron of  their  city,  who  communicated  it  to  Cicero.  Cicero  desired  the 
embassadors  to  continue  to  listen  to  the  proposals  of  the  conspirators, 
till  they  had  become  fully  acquainted  with  the  extent  of  the  plot,  and 
till  they  were  able  to  furnish  him  with  full  evidence  against  the  actors 
in  it ;  and  by  his  suggestion  they  required  the  conspirators  to  furnish 
them  with  credentials  to  show  to  their  countrymen.  This  was  thought 
reasonable  by  Lentulus  and  his  party,  and  they  accordingly  appointed 
a  man  named  Vulturcius  to  accompany  them,  who  was  to  introduce 
them  to  Catiline  on  their  road,  in  order  to  confirm  the  agreement,  and 
to  exchange  pledges  with  him,  and  Lentulus  also  furnished  them  with 
a  letter  to  Catiline  under  his  own  hand  and  seal,  though  not  signed. 
Cicero  being  privately  informed  of  all  these  particulars,  concerted  with 
the  embassadors  the  time  and  manner  of  their  leaving  Rome  by  night, 
and  hadthem  arrested  on  the  Mulvian  bridge,  about  a  mile  from  the 
city,  with  these  letters  and  papers  in  their  possession.  This  was 
all  done,  and  they  brought  as  prisoners  to  Cicero's  house  early  in  the 
morning. 
Cicero  immediately  summoned  the  senate  ;  and  at  the  same  time  he  sent 
for  Lentulus,  Cethegus,  and  others  of  the  conspirators  who  were  more 
especially  implicated,  such  as  Gabinius  and  Statilius,  who  all  came 
immediately  to  his  house,  being  ignorant  of  the  discovery  that  had 
taken  place.  Being  informed  also  that  a  quantity  of  arms  had  been 
provided  by  Cethegus  for  the  purpose  of  the  conspiracy,  he  orders 
Caius  Sulpicius,  one  of  the  praetors,  to  search  his  house,  and  he  did  so, 
and  found  a  great  number  of  swords  and  daggers  ready  cleaned  and  fit 

for  use.  A 

He  then  proceeds  to  meet  the  senate  in  the  Temple  of  Concord,  with  the 
embassadors  and  conspirators  in  custody.  He  ^SPs  the  whole  af- 
fair to  them,  and  introduces  Vulturcius  to  be  examined  before  them. 
Cicero,  by  the  order  of  the  senate,  promises  him  pardon  and  reward  if 
he  reveals  what  he  knew.  On  which  he  confesses  every  thing ;  tells 
them  that  he  had  letters  from  Lentulus  to  Catiline  to  urge  him  to 
avail  himself  of  the  assistance  of  the  slaves,  and  to  lead  his  army  with 
all  expedition  against  Rome  ;  in  order,  when  the  city  had  been  set  on 
fire,  and  the  massacre  commenced,  that  he  might  be  able  to  intercept 
and  destroy  those  who  fled. 

Then  the  embassadors  were  examined,  who  declared  that  they  had  re- 
ceived letters  to  the  chief  men  of  their  nation  from  Lentulus,  Cethe- 
gus, and  Statilius  ;  and  that  they,  and  Lucius  Cassius  also,  begged 
them  to  send  a  body  of  cavalry  into  Italy,  and  that  Lentulus  assured 
them,  from  the  Sibylline  books,  that  he  was  the  third1  Cornelius  who 
was  destined  to  reign  at  Rome.  The  letters  were  produced  and  opened. 
On  the  sight  of  them  the  conspirators  respectively  acknowledged  them 
to  be  theirs,  and  Lentulus  was  even  so  conscience-stricken  that  he  con- 
f-r-cpj  h;s  whole  crime. 
e  senat  d  a  vote  acknow        ing  the  services  of  Cicero  in  the 

1  China  and  Sylla  had  been  the  two  former  Cornelii. 


28  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mos*  ample  terms,  and  voted  that  Lentulus  should  be  deposed  from  his 
office  of  praetor,  and,  with  all  the  other  conspirators,  committed  to  safe 
custody.  Cicero,  after  the  senate  adjourned,  proceeded  to  the  forum 
and  gave  an  account  to  the  people  of  every  thing  which  had  passed, 
both  in  regard  to  the  steps  that  he  had  taken  to  detect  the  whole  con- 
spiracy, and  to  convict  the  conspirators;  and  also  of  what  had  taken 
place  in  the  senate,  and  of  the  votes  and  resolutions  which  that  body 
had  just  passed. 
While  the  prisoners  were  before  the  senate  he  had  copies  of  their  exam- 
inations and  confessions  taken  down,  and  dispersed  through  Italy  and 
all  the  provinces.     This  happened  on  the  third  of  December. 

%  I.  You  see  this  day,  O  Romans,  the  republic,  and  all  your 
lives,  your  goods,  your  fortunes,  your  wives  and  children,  this 
home  of  most  illustrious  empire,  this  most  fortunate  and  beau- 
tiful city,  by  the  great  love  of  the  immortal  gods  for  you,  by 
my  labors  and  counsels  and  dangers,  snatched  from*  fire  and 
sword,  and  almost  from  the  very  jaws  of  fate,  and  preserved 
and  restored  to  you. 

And  if  those  days  on  which  we  are  preserved  are  not  less 
pleasant  to  us,  or  less  illustrious,  than  those  on  which  we  are 
born,  because  the  joy  of  being  saved  is  certain,  the  good  for- 
tune of  being  born  uncertain,  and  because  we  are  born  with- 
out feeling  it,  but  we  are  preserved  with  great  delight ;  ay, 
since  we  have,  by  our  affection  and  by  our  good  report,  raised 
to  the  immortal  gods  that  Romulus  who  built  this  city,  he,  too, 
who  has  preserved  this  city,  built  by  him,  and  embellished  as 
you  see  it,  ought  to  be  held  in  honor  by  you  and  your  poster- 
ity ;  for  we  have  extinguished  flames  which  were  almost  laid 
under  and  placed  around  the  temples  and  shrines,  and  houses 
and  walls  of  the  whole  city ;  we  have  turned  the  edge  of  swords 
drawn  against  the  republic,  and  have  turned  aside  their  points 
from  your  throats.  And  since  all  this  has  been  displayed  in 
the  senate,  and  made  manifest,  and  detected  by  me,  I  will  now 
explain  it  briefly,  that  you,  O  citizens,  that  are  as  yet  ignorant 
of  it,  and  are  in  suspense,  may  be  able  to  see  how  great  the 
danger  was,  how  evident  and  by  what  means  it  was  detected 
and  arrested.  First  of  all,  since  Catiline,  a  few  days  ago,  burst 
out  of  the  city,  when  he  had  left  behind  the  companions  of  his 
wickedness,  the  active  leaders  of  this  infamous  war,  I  have  con- 
tinually watched  and  taken  care,  O  Romans,  of  the  means  by 
which  we  might  be  safe  amid  such  great  and  such  carefully 
concealed  treachery. 

II.   Farther,  when  I  drovu  Catiline  out  of  the  city  (for  I  do 
not  fear  the  unpopularity  of  this  expression,  when  that  is  more 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  29 

to  be  feared  that  I  should  be  blamed  because  he  has  departed 
alive),  but  then  when  I  wished  him  to  be  removed,  I  thought 
either  that  the  rest  of  the  band  of  conspirators  would  depart 
with  him,  or  that  they  who  remained  would  be  weak  and  pow- 
erlejssjyithoiij  him. 

And  I,  as  I  saw  that  those  whom  I  knew  to  be  inflamed 
with  the  greatest  madness  and  wickedness  were  among  us, 
and  had  remained  at  Rome,  spent  all  my  nights  and  days  in 
taking  care  to  know  and  see  what  they  were  doing,  and  what 
they  were  contriving ;  that,  since  what  I  said  would,  from  the 
incredible  enormity  of  the  wickedness,  make  less  impression 
on  your  ears,  I  might  so  detect  the  whole  business  that  you 
might  with  all  your  hearts  provide  for  your  safety,  when  jWL. 
saw  the  crime  with  your  own  eyes.  Therefore,  when  I  found 
"that  the  embassadors  of  the  Allobroges  had  been  tampered  with 
by  Publius  Lentulus,  for  the  sake  of  exciting  a  Transalpine, 
war  and  commotion  in  Gaul,  and  that  they,  on  their  return  to 
Gaul,  had  been  sent  with  letters  and  messages  to  Catiline  on 
the  same  road,  and  that  Yulturcius  had  been  added  to  them 
as  a  companion,  and  that  he  too  had  had  letters  given  him  for 
Catiline,  I  thought  that  an  opportunity  was  given  me  of  con- 
triving what  was  most  difficult,  and  which  I  was  always  wish- 
ing the  immortal  gods  might  grant,  that  the  whole  business 
might  be  manifestly  detected  not  by  me  alone,  but  by  the  sen- 
atejtlacyand  by  you. 

Therefore,  yesterday  I  summoned  Lucius  Flaccus  and  C. 
Pomtinus,  the  praetors,  brave  men  and  well  affected  to  the 
republic-  I  explained  to  them  the  whole  matter,  and  showed 
them  what  I  wished  to  have  done.  But  they,  full  of  noble 
and  worthy  sentiments  toward  the  republic,  without  hesita- 
tion, and  without  any  delay,  undertook  the  business,  and 
when  it  was  evening,  went  secretly  to  the  Mulvian  bridge, 
and  there  so  distributed  themselves  in  the  nearest  villas,  that 
the  Tiber  and  the  bridge  was  between  them.  And  they  took 
to  the  same  place,  without  any  one  having  the  least  suspicion 
of  it,  many  brave  men,  and  I  had  sent  many  picked  young 
men  of  the  prefecture  of  Eeate,  whose  assistance  I  constantly 
employ  in  the  protection  of  the  republic,  armed  with  swords. 
In  the  mean  time,  about  the  end  of  the  third  watch,  when  the 
en:  dors  of  the  Allobrog*   .  t  ■■  retinue  and  Yul- 

turcius with  them,  1  to  come  upon  the  Mulvian  brio 

an  attack  is  made  upon  them  :  swords  are  drawn  both,  by 


30  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

them  and  by  our  people ;  the  matter  was  understood  by  the 
praetors  alone,  but  was  unknown  to  the  rest. 

III.  Then,  by  the  intervention  of  Fomtinus  and  Flaccus, 
the  fight  which  had  begun  was  put  an  end  to ;  all  the  letters 
which  were  in  the  hands  of  the  whole  company  are  delivered 
to  the  praetors  with  the  seals  unbroken ;  the  men  themselves 
are  arrested  and  brought  to  me  at  daybreak.  And  I  imme- 
diately summoned  that  most  worthless  contriver  of  all  this 
wickedness,  Gabinius,  as  yet  suspecting  nothing;  after  him, 
P„  Statilius  is  sent  for,  and  after  him  Cethegus;  but  Lentulus 
was  a  long  time  in  coming — I  suppose,  because,  contrary  to 
his  custom,  he  had  been  up  a  long  time  the  night  before,  writ- 
ing letters. 

f-7  But  when  those  most  noble  and  excellent  men  of  the  whole 
city,  who,  hearing  of  the  matter,  came  in  crowds  to  me  in  the 
morning,  thought  it  best  for  me  to  open  the  letters  before  I 
related  the  matter  to  the  senate,  lest,  if  nothing  were  found  in 
them,  so  great  a  disturbance  might  seem  to  have  been  caused 
to  the  state  for  nothing,  I  said  I  would  never  so  act  as  shrink 
from  referring  matter  of  public  danger  to  the  public  council. 
In  truth  if,  O  Romans,  these  things  which  had  been  reported 
to  me  had  not  been  found  in  them,  yet  I  did  not  think  I  ought, 
in  such  a  crisis  of  the  republic,  to  be  afraid  of  the  imputation 
of  over-diligence.  \  I  quickly  summoned  a  full  senate,  as  you 
saw ;  and  meantime,  without  any  delay,  by  the  advice  of 
the  Allobroges,  I  sent  Caius  Sulpicius  the  praetor,  a  brave 
man,  to  bring  whatever  arms  he  could  find  in  the  house  of 
Cethegus,  Avhence  he  did  bring  a  great  number  of  swords  and 
daggers. 

IV.  I  introduced  Yulturcius  without  the  Gauls.  By  the 
command  of  the  senate,  I  pledged  him  the  public  faith  for  his 
safety.  I  exhorted  him  fearlessly  to  tell  all  he  knew.  Then, 
when  he  had  scarcely  recovered  himself  from  his  great  alarm, 
he  said :  that  he  had  messages  and  letters  for  Catiline,  from 
Publius  Lentulus,  to  avail  himself  of  the  guard  of  the  slaves, 
and  to  come  toward  the  city  with  his  army  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible ;  and  that  was  to  be  done  with  the  intention  that,  when 
they  had  set  fire  to  the  city  on  all  sides,  as  it  had  been  ar- 
ranged and  distributed,  and  had  made  a  great  massacre  of  the 
citizens,  he  might  be  at  hand  to  catch  those  who  tied,  and  to 
join  himself  to  the  leaders  within  the  city,  lint  the  Gauls 
being  introduced,  said  that  an  oath  had  been  administered  to 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  31 

thorn,  and  letters  given  them  by  Publius  Lentulus,  Cethegus, 
and  Statilius,  for  their  nation  ;  and  that  they  had  been  en^ 
joined  by  them,  and  by  Lucius  Cassius,  to  send  cavalry  into 
Italy  as  early  as  possible ;  that  infantry  should  not  be  want- 
ing ;  and  that  Lentulus  had  assured  him,  from  the  Sibylline 
■oracles  and  the  answers  of  soothsayers,  that  he  was  that  third 
Cornelius  to  whom  the  kingdom  and  sovereignty  over  this  city 
was  fated  to  come  ;  that  Cinna  and  Sylla  had  been  before  him  ; 
and  that  he  had  also  said  that  was  the  year  destined  to  the  de- 
struction of  this  city  and  empire,  being  the  tenth  yW  after  the 
acquittal  of  the  virgins,  and  the  twentieth  after  the  burning  of 
the  Capitol.  But  they  said  there  had  been  this  dispute  between 
Cethegus  and  the  rest  —  that  Lentulus  and  others  thought  it 
best  that  the  massacre  should  take  place  and  the  city  be  burned 
at  the  Saturnalia,  but  that  Cethegus  thought  it  too  long  to 

wait. 

V.  And,  not  to  detain  you,  O  Romans,  we  ordered  the  let- 
ters to  be  brought  forward  which  were  said  to  have  been  given 
them  by  each  of  the  men.     First,  I  showed  his  s_e_al  to  Cethe- 
gus ;  he  recognized  it :  we  cut  the  thread  ;  we  read  the  let- 
ter.     It  was  written  with  his  own  hand :  that  he  would  do 
for  the  senate  and  people  of  the  Allobroges  what  he  had  prom- 
ised their  embassadors  ;  and  that  he  begged  them  also  to  do 
what  their  embassadors  had  arranged.     Then  Cethegus,  who 
a  little  before  had  made  answer  about  the  swords  and  daggers 
which  had  been  found  in  his  house,  and  had  said  that  he  had 
always  been  fond  of  line  arms,  being  stricken  down  and  de- 
jected at  the  reading  of  his  letters,  convicted  by  his  own  con-., 
science,  became  suddenly  silent,      Statilius,  being  introduced, 
owned  his  handwriting  and  his  seal.      His  letters  were  read, 
of  nearly  the  same  tenor :   he  confessed  it.      Then  I  showed 
Lentulus  his  letters,  and  asked  him  whether  he  recognized 
the  seal?     He  nodded  assent.  %  But  it  is,  said  I,  a  well-known 
seal — the  likeness  of  your  grandfather,  a  most  illustrious  man, 
who  greatly  loved  his  country  and  his  fellow-citizens ;  and  it, 
even  though  silent,  ought  to  have  called  you  back  from  such 
wickedness. 

Letters  are  read  of  the  same  tenor  to  the  senate  and  people 
\  of  the  Allobroges.     I  offered  him  leave,  if  he  wished  i  <  my 

ing  of  these  matte  ,rst  he  declined  to  speak  ;  but 

hen  the  whole  examination  had  been  gone 
tbrouj  I  concluded,  he  rose.     He  asked  the  Gauls  what  ha 


32.  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

had  had  to  do  with  them'?  why  they  had  come  to  his  house? 
and  he  asked  Vulturous  too.  And  when  they  had  answered 
him  briefly  and  steadily,  under  whose  guidance  they  had  come 
to  him,  and  how  often  ;  and  when  they  asked  him  whether  lie 
had  said  nothing  to  them  about  the  Sibylline  oracles ;  then  he 
on  a  sudden,  mad  with  wickedness,  showed  how  great  was  the 
power  of  conscience  j/for  though  he  might  have  denied  it,  he 
suddenly,  contrary  fo  every  one's  expectation,  confessed  it  i  so 
~TTot  only  did  his  genius  and  skill  in  oratory,  lor  which  he  was 
always  eminent,  but  even,  through  the  power  of  his  manifest 
and  detected  wickedness,  that  impudence,  in  which  he  surpass- 
ed all  men,  and  audacity  deserted  him. 

But  Vulturous  on  a  sudden  ordered  the  letters  to  be  pro- 
duced and  opened  which  he  said  had  been  given  to  him  for 
Catiline,  by  Lentulus.  And  though  Lentulus  was  greatly 
agitated  at  that,  yet  he  acknowledged  his  seal  and  his  hand- 
writing; but  the  letter  was  anonymous,  and  ran  thus:  ""Who 
I  am  you  will  know  from  him  whom  I  have  sent  to  you : 
take  care  to  behave  like  a  man,  and  consider  to  what  place 
you  have  proceeded,  and  provide  for  what  is  now  necessary 
for  you :  take  care  to  associate  to  yourself  the  assistance  of 
every  one,  even  of  the  powerless."  Then  Gabinius  being 
introduced,  when  at  first  he  had  begun  to  answer  impudently, 
at  last  denied  nothing  of  those  things  which  the  Gauls  alleged 
against  him.  And  to  me,  indeed,  O  Romans,  though  the 
letters,  the  seals,  the  handwriting,  and  the  confession  of  each 
individual  seemed  most  'certain  indications  and  proofs  of 
wickedness,  yet  their  color,  their  eyes,  their  countenance, 
then*  silence,  appeared  more  certain  still ;  for  they  stood  so 
stupefied,  they  kept  their  eyes  so  fixed  on  the  ground,  at  times 
looking  stealthily  at  one  another,  that  they  appeared  now  not 
so  much  to  be  informed  against  by  others  as  to  be  informing 
against  themselves. 

VI.  Having  produced  and  divulged  these  proofs,  O  Romans, 
I  consulted  the  senate  what  ought  to  be  done  for  the  interests 
of  the  republic.  Vigorous  and  fearless  opinions  were  deliver- 
ed by  the  chief  men,  which  the  senate  adopted  without  any 
variety;  and  since  the  decree  of  the  senate  is  not  yet  written 
out,  I  will  relate  to  you  from  memory,  O  citizens,  what  the 
senate  has  decreed.  First  of  all.  a  vote  of  thanks  to  me  is 
passed  in  the  most  honorable  words,  because  the  republic  hi  J 
been  delivered  from  the  greatest  dangers  by  my  valor,  and  wi» 


III.  AGAINST  L    CATILINE.  '    33 

doui,  and  prudence.  Then  Lucius  Flaccus  and  Caius  Pomti- 
nus,  the  praetors,  are  deservedly  and  rightly  praised,  because  I 
had  availed  myself  of  their  brave  and  loyal  assistance.  And 
also,  praise  is  given  to  that  brave  man,  my  colleague,  because 
he  had  removed  from  his  counsels,  and  from  the  counsels  of 
the  republic,  those  who  had  been  accomplices  in  this  conspir- 
acy. And  they  voted  that  Publius  Lentulus,  when  he  had 
abdicated  the  praetorship,  should  be  given  into  custody ;  and 
also,  that  Caius  Cethegus,  Lucius  Statilius,  Publius  Gabinius, 
who  were  all  present,  should  be  given  into  custody :  and  the 
same  decree  was  passed  against  Lucius  Cassius,  who  had  beg- 
ged for  himself  the  office  of  burning  the  city  ;  against  Marcus 
Caparius,  to  whom  it  had  been  proved  that  Apulia  had  been 
allotted  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  disaffection  among  the 
shephei'ds ;  against  Publius  Furius,  who  belongs  to  the  colo- 
nies which  Lucius  Sylla  led  to  Faesulse  ;  against  Quintus  Man- 
lius  Chilo,  who.  was  always  associated  with  this  man  Furius 
in  his  tampering  with  the  Allobroges  ;.  against  Publius  Um- 
brenus,  a  freedman,  by  whom  it  was  proved  that  the  Gauls 
were  originally  brought  to  Gabinius.  1/ 

And  the   senate,  O  citizens,  acted   with  such  lenity,  that, 
out  of  so  great  a  conspiracy,  and  such  a  number  and  multi- 
tude of  domestic  enemies,  it  thought  that  since  the  republic 
was   saved,  the  minds   of  the   rest   might   be  restored   to   a 
healthy   state   by  the   punishment    of  nine   most   abandoned 
men.  "And   also   a   supplication1  was   decreed  in    my   name 
(which  is  the  first  time  since  the  building  of  the  city  that 
such  an  honor  has  ever  been  paid  to  a  man  in  a  civil  capaci- 
ty), to  the  immortal  gods,  for  their  singular  kindness.     And 
it  was  decreed  in  these  words,  "  because  I  had  delivered  the 
city  from  conflagration,  the  citizens  from  massacre,  and  Italy 
from  war."     And  if  this  supplication  be  compared  with  oth- 
ers, O  citizens,  there  is  this  difference  between  them — that  all 
others  have  been  appointed  because  of  the  successes  of  the 
1  A  supplication  was  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  the  gods,  decreed  by 
the  senate,  when  all  the  temples  were  opened  and  the  statues  of  the  gods 
placed  in  public  upon  couches  (pulvinaria),  to  which  the  people  offered 
up  their  thanksgivings  and  prayers.     It  was  usually  decreed  on  the  in- 
telligence arriving  of  any  great  victory,  and  the  number  of  days  which  it 
was  to  last  was  proportioned  to  the  importance  of  the  victory.     It  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  prelude  to  a  triumph.     Of  course,  from  what  has 
been  said,  it  must  have  been  usually  confined  to  generals  ;   who  laid  a 
the  toga  on  leaving  the  city  to^aTssume  the  command  of  the  army,  and  as 
sumed  the  paludame7itumy<ST  military  robe- 

B2 
/ 


34  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

republic  ;  this  one  alone  for  its  preservation.  And  that  which 
was  the  first  thing  to  be  done,  has  been  done  and  executed ; 
for  Publius  Lentulus,  though,  being  convicted  by  proofs  and 
by  his  own  confession,  by  the  judgment  of  the  senate  he  had 
^lost  not  only  the  rights  of  a  pradtor,  but  also  those  of  a  citizen, 
; still  resigned  his  office;  so  that,  though  Caius  Marcius,  that 
most  illustrious  of  men,  had  no  scruples  about  putting  to  death 
Caius  Glaucius  the  praetor,  against  whom  nothing  had  been 
decreed  by  name,  still  we  are  relieved  from  that  scruple  in  the 
case  of  Publius  Lentulus,  who  is  now  a  private  individual. 

VII.  Now,  since,  O  citizens,  you  have  the  nefarious  leaders 
of  this  most  wicked  and  dangerous  war  taken  prisoners  and  in 
your  grasp,  you  ought  to  think  that  all  the  resources  of  Cat- 
iline— all  his  hopes  and  all  his  power,  now  that  these  dangers 
of  the  city  are  warded  off,  have  fallen  to  pieces.  '  And*,  indeed, 
when  I  drove  him  from  the  city,  I  foresaw  in  my  mind,  O  cit- 
izens, that  if  Catiline  were  removed,  I  had  no  cause  to  fear 
either  the  drowsiness  of  Publius  Lentulus,  or  the  fat  of  Lucius 
Cassius,  or  the  mad  rashness  of  Cassius  Cethegus.  He  alone 
was  to  be  feared  of  all  these  men,  and  that  only  as  long  as  he 
was  within  the  walls  of  the  city.  He  knew  every  thing,  he 
had  access  to  every  body.  He  had  the  skill  and  the  audacity 
to  address,  to  tempt,  and'  to  tamper  with  every  one.  He  had 
acuteness  suited  to  crime  ;  and  neither  tongue  nor  hand  ever 
failed  to  support  that  acuteness.  Already  he  had  men  he 
could  rely  on,  chosen  and  distributed  for  the  execution  of  all 
other  business ;  and  when  he  had  ordered  any  thing  to  be 
done,  he  did  not  think  it  was  done  on  that  account.  There 
was  nothing  to  which  he  did  not  personally  attend  and  see  to 
— for  which  he  did  not  watch  and  toil.  '  He  was  able  to  en- 
dure cold,  thirst,  and  hunger. 

Unless  I  had  driven  this  man,  so  active,  so  ready,  so  au- 
dacious, so  crafty,  so  vigilant  in  wickedness,  so  industrious  in 
criminal  exploits,  from  his  plots  within  the  city  to  the  open 
warfare  of  the  camp  (I  will  express  my  honest  opinion,  O 
citizens),  I  should  not  easily  have  removed  from  your  necks 
so  vast  a  weight  of  evil.  He  would  not  have  determined 
on  the  Saturnalia1  to  massacre  you — he  would  not  have  an- 

1  The  Saturnalia  was  a  feast  of  Saturn  at  which  extraordinary  license 
and  indulgence  was  allowed  to  all  the  slaves  ;  it  took  place  at  the  end 
of  December,  while  this  speech  of  Cicero  was  delivered  early  in  Novem- 
ber. 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  35 

nounced  the  destruction  of  the  republic,  and  even  the  day  of 
its  doom  so  long  beforehand — he  would  never  have  allowed  hig 
seal  and  his  letters,  the  undeniable  witnesses  of  his  guilt,  to  be 
taken,  which  now,  since  he  is  absent,  has  been  so  done  that  no 
larceny  in  a  private  house  has  ever  been  so  thoroughly  and 
clearly  detected  as  this  vast  conspiracy  against  the  republic. 
But  if  Catiline  had  remained  in  the  city  to  this  day,  although, 
as  long  as  he  was  so,  I  met  all  his  designs  and  withstood  them  ; 
yet,  to  say  the  least,  we  should  have  had  to  fight  with  him,  and 
should  never,  while  he  remained  as  an  enemy  in  the  city,  have 
delivered  the  republic  from  such  dangers,  with  such  ease,  such 
tranquillity,  and  such  silence. 

VILT.  Although  all  these  things,  O  Romans,  have  been  so 
managed  by  me,  that  they  appear  to  have  been  done  and  pro- 
vided for  by  the  order  and  design  of  the  immortal  gods ;  and 
as  we  may  conjecture  this  because  the  direction  of  such  weighty 
affairs  scarcely  appears  capable  of  having  been  carried  out  by 
human  wisdom ;  so,  too,  they  have  at  this  time  so  brought  us 
present  aid  and  assistance,  that  we  could  almost  behold  them 
without  eyes.  For  to  say  nothing  of  those  things,  namely,  the 
fire-brands  seen  in  the  west  in  the  night-time,  and  the  heat 
of  the  atmosphere  —  to  pass  over-  the  falling  of  thunder-bolts 
and  the  earthquakes — to  say  nothing  of  all  the  other  portents 
which  have  taken  place  in  such  numbers  during  my  consulship, 
that  the  immortal  gods  themselves  have  been  seeming  to  pre- 
dict what  is  now  taking  place ;  yet,  at  all  events,  this  which  I 
am  about  to  mention,  O  Romans,  must  be  neither  passed  over 
nor  omitted. 

For  you  recollect,  I  suppose,  when  Cotta  and  Torquatus 
were  consuls,  that  many  towers  in  the  Capitol  were  struck 
with  lightning,  when  both  the  images  of  the  immortal  gods 
were  moved,  and  the  statues  of  many  ancient  men  were  thrown 
down,  and  the  brazen  tablets  on  which  the  laws  were  written 
were  melted.  Even  Romulus,  who  built  this  city,  .vas  struck, 
which,  you  recollect,  stood  in  the  Capitol,  a  gilt  statue,  little 
and  sucking,  and  clinging  to  the  teats  of  the  wolf.  ~Xnd  when 
at  this  time  the  soothsayers  were  assembled  out  of  all  Etruria, 
they  said  that  slaughter,  and  conflagration,  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  laws,  and  civil  and  domestic  war,  and  the  fall  of  the 
whole  city  and  empire  was  at  hand,  unless  the  immortal  gods, 
being  appeased  in  every  possible  manner,  by  their  own  power 
turned  aside,  as  I  may  say  the  very  fates  themselves. 


36  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Therefore,  according  to  their  answers,  games  were  cele- 
brated for  ten  days,  nor  was  any  tiling  omitted  which  might 
tend  to  the  appeasing  of  the  gods.  And  they  enjoined  also 
that  we  should  make  a  greater  statue  of  Jupiter,  and  place  it 
in  a  lofty  situation,  and  (contrary  to  what  had  been  done 
befoiv)  turn  it  toward  the  east.  And  they  said  that  they 
hoped  that  if  that  statue  which  you  now  behold  looked  upon 
the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  the  forum,  and  the  senate-house, 
then  those  designs  which  were  secretly  formed  against  the 
safety  of  the  city  and  empire  would  be  brought  to  light,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  be  thoroughly  seen  by  the  senate  and  by 
the  Roman  people.  And  the  consuls  ordered  it  to  be  so 
placed ;  but  so  great  was  the  delay  in  the  work,  that  it  was 
never  set  up  by  the  former  consuls,  nor  by  us  before  this 
day. 

nIX.  Here  who,  O  Romans,  can  there  be  so  obstinate  against 
he  truth,  so  headstrong,  so  void  of  sense,  as  to  deny  that  all 
these  things  which  we  see,  and  especially  this  city,  is  govern- 
ed by  the  divine  authority  and  power  of  the  immortal  gods? 
Forsooth,  when  this  answer  had  been  given — that  massacre, 
and  conflagration,  and  ruin  was  prepared  for  the  republic ; 
and  that,  too,  by  profligate  citizens,  which,  from  the  enormity 
of  the  wickedness,  appeared  incredible  to  some  people,  you 
found  that  it  had  not  only  been  planned  by  wicked  citizens, 
but  had  even  been  undertaken  and  commenced.  And  is  not 
this  fact  so  present  that  it  appears  to  have  taken  place  by  the 
express  will  of  the  good  and  mighty  Jupiter,  that,  when  this 
day,  early  in  the  morning,  both  the  conspirators  and  their  ac- 
cusers were  being  led  by  my  command  through  the  forum  to 
the  Temple  of  Concord,  at  that  very  time  the  statue  was  being 
erected?  And  when  it  was  set  up,  and  turned  toward  you 
and  toward  the  senate,  the  senate  and  you  yourselves  saw 
every  thing  which  had  been  planned  against  the  universal 
safety  brought  to  light  and  made  manifest. 

And  on  this  account  they  deserve  even  greater  hatred  and 
''  greater  punishment,  for  having  attempted  to  apply  their  fatal 
and  wicked  fire,  not  only  to  your  houses  and  homes,  but  even 
to  the  shrines  and  temples  of  the  Gods.  And  if  1  were  to 
say  that  it  wTas  I  who  resisted  them,  I  should  take  too  much 
to  myself,  and  ought  not  to  be  borne.  He — he,  Jupiter,  re- 
sisted them.  Jle  determined  that  the  Capitol  should  be  sale, 
he  saved  these  temples,  he  saved  this  city,  ho  saved  all  of  von* 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  37 

It  is  under  the  guidance  of  the  immortal  gods,  O  Romans, 
that  I  have  cherished  the  intention  and  desires  which  I  have, 
and  have  arrived  at  such  undeniable  proofsTj  Surely,  that 
tampering  with  the  Allobroges  would  neverTiave  taken  place,  ... 
so  important  a  matter  would  never  have  been  so  madly  in- 
trusted, by  Lentulus  and  the  rest  of  our  internal  enemies,  to 
strangers  and  foreigners,  such  letters  would  never  have  been 
written,  unless  all  prudence  had  been  taken  by  the  immortal 
gods  from  such  terrible  audacity.  What  shall  I  say  %  That 
Gauls,  men  from  a  state  scarcely  at  peace  with  us,  the  only 
nation  existing  which  seems  both  to  be  able  to  make  war  on 
the  Roman  people,  and  not  to  be  unwilling  to  do  so — that  they 
should  disregard  the  hope  of  empire  and  of  the  greatest  suc- 
cess voluntarily  offered  to  them  by  patricians,  and  should 
prefer  your  safety  to  their  own  power — do  you  not  think 
that  that  was  caused  by  divine  interposition  ?  especially  when 
they  could  have  destroyed  us,  not  by  fighting,  but  by  keeping 
silence. 

X.  Wherefore,  O  citizens,  since  a  supplication,  has  been  de- 
creed at  all  the  altars,  celebrate  those  days  with  your  wives  and 
children ;  for  many  just  and  deserved  honors  have  been  often 
paid  to  the  immortal  gods,  but  juster  ones  never.  For  you 
have  been  snatched  from  a  most  cruel  and  miserable  destruc- 
tion, and  you  have  been^natched  from  it  without  slaughter, 
without  bloodshed,  without  an  army,  without  a  battle.  You 
have  conquered  in  the  garb  of  peace,  with  me  in  the  garb  of 
peace  for  yonr  only  general  and  commander, 
yu  Q  Remegifcr,  O  citizens,   all  civil  dissensions,   and  not  only 


£  those  which  you  ^  have  heard  of,  but  those  also  which  you 
yourselves  remember  and  have  seen.  TLuciifs*  Sylla  crushed 
Publius  Sulpicius  ;l  he  drove  from  the  city  Caius  Marius  the 
guardian  of  this  city ;  and  of  many  other  brave  men  some  he 
drove  from  the  city,  and  some  he  murdered.  Cnaeus  Octavius 
the  consul  drove  his  colleague  by  force  of  arms  out  of  the 
city ;  all  this  place  was  crowded  with  heaps  of  carcasses  and 

1  Sulpicius  procured  a  law  to  be  passed  for  taking  the  command  against 
Mithridates  from  Sylla  and  giving  it  to  Marius  ;  Sylla  came  to  Rome  with 
his  army  and  slew  Sulpicius,  when  Marius  fled  to  Africa.     Sylla  made 

0  U  ":      and  Cinna  Is,  who  quarr-!-  ]  after  he  was  gone   and  Cinna 

went  over  to  the  party  of  Marius,  who  returned  to  Rok  and 

Catulus  were  consuls  the  year  after  the  death  of  Sylla,  and  they  quarrel- 
ed because  Lepidus  wished  to  rescind  all  the  acts  of  Sylla.  Leyidus  was 
defeated,  fled  to  Sardinia,  and  died  there . 


58  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

flowed  with  the  blood  of  citizens  ;  afterward  Cinna  and  Mariua 
got  the  upper  hand ;  and  then  most  illustrious  men  were  put 
to  death,  and  the  lights  of  the  state  were  extinguished.  Aft- 
erward Sylla  avenged  the  cruelty  of  this  victory ;  it  is  need- 
less to  say  with  what  a  diminution  of  the  citizens,  and  with 
what  disasters  to  the  republic.  Marcus  Lepidus  disagreed 
with  that  most  eminent  and  brave  man  Quintus  Catulus.  His 
death  did  not  cause  as  much  grief  to  the  republic  as  that  of 
the  others. 

And  these  dissensions,  O  Romans,  were  such  as  concerned 
not  the  destruction  of  the  republic,  but  only  a  change  in  the 
constitution.  They  did  not  wish  that  there  should  be  no  re- 
public, but  that  they  themselves  should  be  the  chief  men  in 
that  which  existed ;  nor  did  they  desire  that  the  city  should 
be  burned,  but  that  they  themselves  should  flourish  in  it.  And 
yet  all  those  dissensions,  none  of  which  aimed  at  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  republic,  were  such  that  they  were  to  be  termin- 
ated not  by  a  reconciliation  and  concord,  but  only  by  inter- 
necine war  among  the  citizens.  But  in  this  war  alone,  the 
greatest  and  most  cruel  in  the  memory  of  man — a  war  such  as 
even  the  countries  of  the  barbarians  have  never  waged  with 
their  own  tribes — a  war  in  which  this  law  was  laid  down  by 
Lentulus,  and  Catiline,  and  Cassius,  and  Cethegus,  that  every 
one,  who  could  live  in  safety  as  long^as  the  city  remained  in 
safety,  should  be  considered  as  an  enemy — in  this  war  I  have 
so  managed  matters,  O  Romans,  that  you  should  all  be  pre- 
served in  safety ;  and  though  your  enemies  had  thought  thai 
only  such  a  number  of  the  citizens  would  be  left  ^fcliad  held 
out  against  an  interminable  massacre,  and  only  so  much  of  the 
city  as  the  flames  could  not  devour,  I  have  preserved  both  the 
city  and  the  citizens  unhurt  and  undiminished. 

XI.  And  for  these  exploits,  important  as  they  are,  O 
Romans,  I  ask  from  you  no  reward  of  virtue,  no  badge  of 
honor,  no  monument  of  my  glory,  beyond  the  everlasting 
recollection  of  this  day.  In  your  minds  I  wish  all  my 
triumphs,  all  my  decorations  of  honor,  the  monuments  of 
my  glory,  the  badges  of  my  renown,  to  be  stored  and  laid  up. 
Nothing  voiceless  can  delight  me,  nothing  silent — nothing,  in 
short,  such  as  even  those  who  are  less  worthy  can  obtain.  In 
your  memory,  O  Romans,  my  name  shall  be  cherished,  in 
your  discourses  it  shall  grow,  in  the  monuments  of  your 
letters  it  shall  grow  old  and  strengthen ;  and  I  feel  assured 


III.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  39 

that  the  same  day  which  I  hope  will  be  for  everlasting,  will  be 
remembered  forever,  so  as  to  tend  both  to  the  safety  of  the 
city  and  the  recollection  of  my  consulship  ;  and  that  it  will  be 
remembered  that  there  existed  in  this  city  at  the  same  time 
two  citizens,  one  of  whom  limited  the  boundaries  of  your  em- 
pire only  by  the  regions  of  heaven,  not  by  those  of  the  earth, 
while  the  other  preserved  the  abode  and  home  of  that  same 
empire-  ^ 

XII.  But  since  the  fortune  and  condition  of  those  exploits 
which  I  have  performed  is  not  the  same  with  that  of  those 
men  who  have  directed  foreign  wars — because  I  must  live 
among  those  whom  I  have  defeated  and  subdued,  they  have 
left  their  enemies  either  slain  or  crushed — it  is  your  business, 

0  Romans,  to  take  care,  if  their  good  deeds  are  a  benefit  to 
others,  that  mine  shall  never  be  an  injury  to  me.  For  that 
the  wicked  and  profligate  designs  of  audacious  men  shall  not 
be  able  to  injure  you,  I  have  taken  care  ;  it  is  your  business  to 
take  care  that  they  do  not  injure  me.  Although,  O  Romans, 
no  injury  can  be  done  to  me  by  them — for  there  is  a  great 
protection  in  the  affection  of  all  good  men,  which  is  procured 
for  me  forever ;  there  is  great  dignity  in  the  republic,  which 
will  always  silently  defend  me ;  there  is  great  power  in  con- 
science, and  those  who  neglect  it,  when  they  desire  to  attack 
me  will  destroy  themselves. 

There  is  moreover  that  disposition  in  me,  O  Romans,  that 

1  not  only  will  yield  to  the  audacity  of  no  one,  but  that  I 
always  voluntarily  attack  the  worthless.  And  if  all  the  vio- 
lence of  domestic  enemies  being  warded  off  from  you  turne 
itself  upon  me  alone,  you  will  have  to  take  care,  O  Romans, 
in  what  condition  you  wish  those  men  to  be  for  the  future, 
who  for  your  safety  have  exposed  themselves  to  unpopularity 
and  to  all  sorts  of  dangers.  As  for  me,  myself,  what  is  there 
which  now  can  be  gained  by  me  for  the  enjoyment  of  life,  es- 
pecially when  neither  in  credit  among  you,  nor  in  the  glory  of 
virtue,  do  I  see  any  higher  point  to  which  1  can  be  desirous  to 
climb? 

That  indeed  I  will  take  care  of,  O  Romans,  as  a  private  man 
to  uphold  and  embellish  the  exploits  which  I  have  performed 
in  my  consulship :  so  that,  if  there  has  been  any  unpopu- 
larity incurred  in  preserving  the  republic,  it  may  injure  those 
who  envy  me,  and  may  tend  to  my  glory.  Lastly,  I  will  so 
behave  myself  in  the  republic  as  always  to  remember  what  I 


40  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  done,  and  to  take  care  that  they  shall  appear  to  have 
been  done  through  virtue,  and  not  by  chance.  Do  you,  O  Ro- 
mans, since  it  is  now  night,  worship  that  Jupiter,  the  guardian 
of  this  city  and  of  yourselves,  and  depart  to  your  homes ;  and 
defend  those  homes,  though  the  danger  is  now  removed,  with 
guard  and  watch  as  you  did  last  night.  That  you  shall  not 
have  to  do  so  long,  and  that  you  shall  enjoy  perpetual  tran- 
quillity, shall,  O  Romans,  be  my  care. 


THE  FOURTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  LUCIUS 

CATILINE. 


DELIVERED    IN    THE    SENATE. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

The  night  after  the  events  mentioned  in  the  argument  to  the  preceding 
oration,  Cicero's  wife  Terentia,  with  the  vestal  virgins,  was  performing 
at  home  the  mystic  rites  of  the  Bona  Dea,  while  Cicero  was  delibera- 
ting with  his  friends  on  the  best  mode  of  punishing  the  conspirators. 
Terentia  interrupted  their  deliberations  by  coming  in  to  inform  them 
of  a  prodigy  which  had  just  happened  ;  that  after  the  sacrifice  in  which 
she  had  been  engaged  was  over,  the  fire  revived  spontaneously  ;  on 
which  the  vestal  virgins  had  sent  her  to  him,  to  inform  him  of  it,  and 
to  bid  him  pursue  what  he  was  then  thinking  of  and  intending  for  the 
good  of  his  country,  since  the  goddess  had  given  this  sign  that  she  was 
watching  over  his  safety  and  glory. 
The  next  day  the  senate  ordered  public  rewards  to  the  embassadors  and 
to  Vulturcius  ;  and  showed  signs  of  intending  to  proceed  with  extreme 
rigor  against  the  conspirators  ;  when,  on  a  sudden,  rumors  arose  of 
plots  having  been  formed  by  the  slaves  of  Lentulus  and  Cethegus  for 
their  masters'  rescue  ;  which  obliged  Cicero  to  double  all  the  guards, 
and  determined  him  to  prevent  any  repetition  of  such  attempts  by 
bringing  before  the  senate  without  delay  the  question  of  the  punish- 
ment of  the  prisoners.     On  which  account  he  summoned  the  senate  to 
meet  the  next  morning. 
There  were  many  dilficulties  in  the  matter.     Capital  punishments  were 
unusual  and  very  unpopular  at  Rome.     And  there  was  an  old  law  of 
Porcius  Lecca,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  which  granted  to  all  criminals 
who  were  capitally  condemned  an  appeal  to  the  people  ;  and  also  a 
law  had  been  passed,  since  his  time,  by  Caius  Gracchus,  to  proln  nt 
the  taking  away  the  life  of  any  citizen  without  a  formal  hearing  before 
the  people.     And  these  considerations  had  so  much  weight  with  some 
of  the  senators,  that  they  absented  themselves  from  the  senate  during 
tjpds  debate,  in  order  to  have  no  «hare  in  sentc*  sing  prisoners  of  sucn 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  41 

high  rank  to  death.  The  debate  was  opened  by  Silanus,  the  consul 
elect,  who  declared  his  opinion,  that  those  in  custody,  and  those  also 
who  should  be  taken  subsequently,  should  all  be  put  to  death.  Every 
one  who  followed  him  agreed  with  him,  till  Julius  Caesar,  the  praetor 
elect  (who  has  been  often  suspected  of  having  been,  at  least  to  some 
extent,  privy  to  the  conspiracy),  rose,  and  in  an  elaborate  speech  pro- 
posed that  they  should  not  be  put  to  death,  but  that  their  estates 
should  be  confiscated,  and  they  themselves  kept  in  perpetual  confine- 
ment. Cato  opposed  him  with  great  earnestness.  But  some  of  Cice- 
ro's friends  appeared  inclined  to  Caesar's  motion,  thinking  it  a  safer 
measure  for  Cicero  himself;  but  when  Cicero  perceived  this,  he  rose 
himself,  and  discussed  the  opinions  both  of  Silanus  and  Caesar  in  the 
following  speech,  which  decided  the  senate  to  vote  for  their  condemna- 
tion. And  as  soon  as  the  vote  had  passed,  Cicero  went  immediately 
from  the  senate-house,  took  Lentulus  from  the  custody  of  his  kinsman 
Lentulus  Spinther,  and  delivered  him  to  the  executioner.  The  other 
conspirators,  Cethegus,  Statilius,  Gabinius,  &c,  were  in  like  manner 
conducted  to  execution  by  the  praetors  ;  and  Cicero  was  conducted 
home  to  his  house  in  triumph  by  the  whole  body  of  the  senate  and  by 
the  knights,  the  whole  multitude  following  him,  and  saluting  him  as 
their  deliverer. 

I.  I  see,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  the  looks  and  eyes  of  you 
all  are  turned  toward  me  ;  I  see  that  you  are  anxious  not  only 
for  your  own  danger  and  that  of  the  republic,  but  even,  if  that 
be  removed,  for  mine.  Your  good-will  is  delightful  to  one 
amid  evils,  and  pleasing  amid  grief;  but  I  entreat  you,  in  the 
name  of  the  immortal  gods,  lay  it  aside  now,  and,  forgetting 
my  safety,  think  of  yourselves  and  of  your  children.  If,  in- 
deed, this  condition  of  the  consulship  has  been  allotted  to  me, 
that  I  should  bear  all  bitterness,  all  pains  and  tortures,  I  will 
bear  them  not  only  bravely  but  even  cheerfully,  provided  that 
by  my  toils  dignity  and  safety  are  procured  for  you  and  for  the 
Roman  people. 

I  am  that  consul,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  wliom  neither  the 
forum  in  which  all  justice  is  contained,  nor  the  Campus 
Martius,1  consecrated  to  the  consular  assemblies,  nor  the 
senate-house,  the  chief  assistance  of  all  nations,  nor  my  own 
home,  the  common  refuge  of  all  men,  nor  my  bed  devoted 
to  rest,  in  short,  not  even  this  seat  of  honor,  this  curule 
chair,  has  ever  been  free  from  the  danger  of  death,  or  from 
plots  and  treachery.  I  have  been  silent,  about  many  things, 
ITiave  borne  much,  I  have  conceded  much,  I  have  remedied 

1  The  Campus  Martius  was  consecrated  or  restored  to  Mars  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Tarquins ;  the  comitia  centuriata  at  which  all  magis- 
trates were  created  v  ri-e  held  there 


42  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

many  things  with  some  pain  to  myself,  amid  the  alarm  of  you 
all.  Now  if  the  immortal  gods  have  determined  that  there 
shall  be  this  end  to  my  consulship,  that  I  should  snatch  you, 
O  conscript  fathers,  and  the  Koman  people  from  miserable 
slaughter,  your  wives  and  children  and  the  vestal  virgins  from 
most  bitter  distress,  the  temples  and  shrines  of  the  gods,  and 
this  most  lovely  country  of  all  of  us,  from  impious  flames,  all 
Italy  from  war  and  devastation  ;  then,  whatever  fortune  is  laid 
up  for  me  by  myself,  it  shall  be  borne.  If,  indeed,  Publius 
Lentulus,  being  led  on  by  soothsayers,  believed  that  his  name 
was  connected  by  destiny  with  the  destruction  of  the  republic, 
why  should  not  I  rejoice  that  my  consulship  has  taken  place 
almost  by  the  express  appointment  of  fate  for  the  preservation 
of  the  republic  *? 

II.  Wherefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  consult  the  welfare  of 
yourselves,  provide  for  that  of  the  republic ;  preserve  your- 
selves, your  wives,  your  children,  and  your  fortunes;  defend 
the  name  and  safety  of  the  Roman  people ;  cease  to  spare  me, 
and  to  think  of  me.      For,  in  the  first  place,  I  ought  to  hope 
that  all  the  gods  who  preside  over  this  city  will  show  me  grat- 
itude in  proportion  as  I  deserve  it ;  and  in  the  second  place,  if 
any  thing  does  happen  to  me,  I  shall  fall  with  a  contented  and 
prepared  mind ;  and,  indeed,  death  can  not  be  disgraceful  to 
a  brave  man,  nor  premature  to  one  of  consular  rank,  nor  mis- 
erable to  a  wise  man.     Not  that  I  am  a  man  of  so  iron  a  dis- 
position as  not  to  be  moved  by  the  grief  of  a  most  dear  and 
affectionate  brother  now  present,  and  by  the  tears  of  all  these 
men  by  whom  you  now  see  me  surrounded.     Nor  does  my 
fainting  wife,  my  daughter  prostrate  with  fear,  and  my  little 
son  whom  the  republic  seems  to  me  to  embrace  as  a  sort  of 
hostage  for  my  consulship,  the  son-in-law  who,  awaiting  the 
end  of  that  day,  is  now  standing  in  my  sight,  fail  often  to  re- 
call my  mind  to  my  home.     I  am  moved  by  all  these  circum- 
stances/ but  in  such  a  direction  as  to  wish  that  they  all  may 
be  safe  together  with  you,  even  if  some  violence  overwhelms 
me,  rather  than  that  both  they  and  we  should  perish  together 
witli  the  republic.  ^^ 

AVherefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  attend  to  the  safety  of  the 
republic ;  look  round  upon  all  the  storms  which  are  impend- 
ing,  unless  you  guard  against  them.  It  is  not  Tiberius  Grac- 
chus, who  wished  to  be  made  a  second  time  a  tribune  of  the 
people ;  it  is  not  Caius  Gracchus,  who  endeavored  to  excite 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  43 

the  partisans  of  the  agrarian  law  ;  it  is  not  Lucius  Saturninus, 
who  slew  Memmius,  who  is  now  in  some  danger,  who  is  now 
brought  before  the  tribunal  of  your  severity.  They  are  now 
in  your  hands  who  withstood  all  Rome,  with  the  object  of 
bringing  conflagration  on  the  whole  city,  massacre  on  all  of 
you,  and  of  receiving  Catiline ;  their  letters  are  in  your  pos- 
session, their  seals,  their  handwriting,  and  the  confession  of 
each  individual  of  them ;  the  Allobroges  are  tampered  with, 
the  slaves  are  excited,  Catiline  is  sent  for ;  the  design  is  actu- 
ally begun  to  be  put  in  execution,  that  all  should  be  put  to 
death,  so  that  no  one  should  be  left  even  to  mourn  the  name 
of  the  republic,  and  to  lament  over  the  downfall  of  so  mighty 
a  dominion. 

III.  All  these  things  the  witnesses  have  informed  you  of, 
the  prisoners  have  confessed,  you  by  many  judgments  have 
already  decided ;  first,  because  you  have  thanked  me  in  un- 
precedented language,  and  have  passed  a  vote  that  the  con- 
spiracy of  abandoned  men  has  been  laid  open  by  my  virtue 
and  diligence ;  secondly,  because  you  have  compelled  Publius 
Lentulus  to  abdicate  the  praetorship ;  again,  because  you  have 
voted  that  he  and  the  others  about  whom  you  have  decided 
should  be  given  into  custody ;  and  above  ail,  because  you 
have  decreed  a  supplication  in  my  name,  an  honor  which  has 
never  been  paid  to  any  one  before  acting  in  a  civil  capacity ; 
last  of  all,  because  yesterday  you  gave  most  ample  rewards  to 
the  embassadors  of  the  Allobroges  and  to  Titus  Vulturcius  ; 
all  which  acts  are  such  that  they,  who  have  been  given  into 
custody  by  name,  without  any  doubt  seem  already  condemned 
by  you.  ^ 

But  I  have  determined  to  refer  the  business  to  you  a£  -a. 
fresh  matter,  O  conscript  fathers,  both  as  to  the  fact,  what 
you  think  of  it,  and  as  to  the  punishment,  what  you  vote. 
I  will  state  what  it  behooves  the  consul  to  state.  I  have  seen 
for  a  long  time  great  madness  existing  in  the  republic,  and 
new  designs  being  formed,  and  evil  passions  being  stirred  up, 
but  I  never  thought  that  so  great,  so  destructive  a  conspiracy 
as  this  was  being  meditated  by  citizens.  Now  to  whatever 
point  your  minds  ^nrl  opinions  incline,  you  must  decide 
s>  ht.     You  i  crime  nasbeen  made 

'  n  to  you;  if  you  tlii  at  but  few  are  implicated 

it  you  are  greatly  mistaken ;  this  evil  has  spread  wider  than 
you  think;  it  has  spread  not  only  throughout  Italy,  but  it 


44  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

has  even  crossed  the  Alps,  and  creeping  stealthily  on,  it  has 
already  occupied  many  of  the  provinces ;  it  can  by  no  means 
be  crushed  by  tolerating  it,  and  by  temporizing  with  it ;  how- 
ever you  determine  on  chastising  it,  you  must  act  with  prompt- 
itude. 

IV.  I  see  that  as  yet  there  are  two  opinions.  One  that  of 
Decius  Silanus,  who  thinks  that  those  who  have  endeavored 
to  destroy  all  these  things  should  be  punished  with  death ; 
the  other,  that  of  Caius  Csesar,  who  objects  to  the  punish- 
ment of  death,  but  adopts  the  most  extreme  severity  of  all 
other  punishment.  Each  acts  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his 
own  dignity  and  to  the  magnitude  of  the  business  with  the 
greatest  severity.  The  one  thinks  that  it  is  not  right  that 
those,  who  have  attempted  to  deprive  all  of  us  and  the  whole 
Roman  people  of  life,  to  destroy  the  empire,  to  extinguish  the 
name  of  the  Roman  people,  should  enjoy  life  and  the  breath 
of  heaven  common  to  us  all,  for  one  moment ;  and  he  re- 
members that  this  sort  of  punishment  has  often  been  employed 
against  worthless  citizens  in  this  republic.  The  other  feels 
that  death  was  not  appointed  by  the  immortal  gods  for  the 
sake  of  punishment,  but  that  it  is  either  a  necessity  of  nature, 
or  a  rest  from  toils  and  miseries;  therefore  wise  men  have 
never  met  it  unwillingly,  brave  men  have  often  encountered 
it  even  voluntarily.  But  imprisonment,  and  that  too  per- 
petual, was  certainly  invented  for  the  extraordinary  punish- 
ment of  nefarious  wickedness ;  therefore  he  proposes  that 
they  should  be  distributed  among  the  municipal  towns.  This 
proposition  seems  to  have  in  it  injustice  if  you  command  it, 
difficulty  if  you  request  it ;  however,  let  it  be  so  decreed  if 
you  like. 

For  I  will  undertake,  and,  as  I  hope,  I  shall  find  one  who 
will  not  think  it  suitable  to  his  dignity  to  refuse  what  you  de- 
cide on  for  the  sake  of  the  universal  safety.  He  imposes  be- 
sides a  severe  punishment  on  the  burgesses  of  the  municipal 
town  if  any  of  the  prisoners  escape  ;  he  surrounds  them  with 
the  most  terrible  guard,  and  with  every  thing  worthy  of  the 
wickedness  of  abandoned  men.  And  he  proposes  to  establish 
a  decree  that  no  one  shall  be  able  to  alleviate  the  punishment 
of  those  whom  he  is  condemning  by  a  vote  of  either  the  senate 
or  the  people.  He  takes  away  even  hope,  which  alone  can 
comfort  men  in  their  miseries;  besides  this,  he  votes  that  their 
goods  should  be  coniiscated  ;  he  leaves  liie  alone  to  these  in- 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  45 

famous  men,  and  if  he  had  taken  that  away,  he  would  have 
relieved  them  by  one  pang  of  many  tortures  of  mind  and  body, 
and  of  all  the  punishment  of  their  crimes.  Therefore,  that 
there  might  be  some  dread  in  life  to  the  wicked,  men  of  old 
have  believed  that  there  were  some  punishments  of  that  sort 
appointed  for  the  wicked  in  the  shades  below  ;  because  in  truth 
they  perceived  that  if  this  were  taken  away  death  itself  would 
not  be  terrible. 

V.  Now,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  see  what  is  my  interest ;  if 
you  follow  the  opinion  of  Caius  Caesar  (since  he  has  adopted 
this  path  in  the  republic  which  is  accounted  the  popular  one), 
perhaps  since  he  is  the  author  and  promoter  of  this  opinion, 
the  popular  violence  will  be  less  to  be  dreaded  by  me ;  if  you 
adojit  the  other  opinion,  I  Know  not  whether  I  am  not  likely 
to  have  more  trouble  ;  but  still  let  the  advantage  of  the 
republic  outweigh  the  consideration  of  my  danger.  For  we 
have  from  Caius  Csesar,  as  his  own  dignity  and  as  the  illus- 
trious character  of  his  ancestors  demanded,  a  vote  as  a  hostage 
of  his  lasting  good-will  to  the  republic ;  it  has  been  clearly 
seen  how  great  is  the  difference  between  the  lenity  of  dema- 
gogues, and  a  disposition  really  attached  to  the  interests  of 
the  people.  I  see  that  of  those  men  who  wish  to  be  con- 
sidered attached  to  the  people  one  man  is  absent,  that  they 
may  not  seem  forsooth  to  give"  a  vote  about  the  lives  of 
Roman  citizens.  He  only  three  days  ago  gave  Roman  citizens 
into  custody,  and  decreed  me  a  supplication,  and  voted  most 
magnificent  rewards  to  the  witnesses  only  yesterday.  It  is 
not  now  doubtful  to  any  one  what  he,  who  voted  for  the  im- 
prisonment of  the  criminals,  congratulation  to  him  who  had 
detected  them,  and  rewards  to  those  who  had  proved  the 
crime,  thinks  of  the  whole  matter,  and  of  the  cause.  But 
Caius  Ceesar  considers  that  the  Sempronian1  law  was  passed 
about  Roman  citizens,  but  that  he  who  is  an  enemy  of  the 
republic  can  by  no  means  be  a  citizen ;  and  moreover  that 
the  very  proposer  of  the  Sempronian  law  suffered  punishment 
by  the  command  of  the  people.  He  also  denies  that  Lentulus, 
a  briber  and  a  spendthrift,  after  he  has  formed  such  cruel  and 

1  The  Sempronian  law  was  proposed  by  Caius  Gracchus,  b.c.  123,  and 
enacted  that  the  people  only  should  decide  respecting  the  life  or  civil 
condition  of  a  citizen.  It  is  alluded  to  also  in  the  oration  Pro  Rabir. 
c.  4,  where  Cicero  says,  "  Caius  Gracchus  passed  a  law  that  no  decision 
should  be  come  to  about  the  life  of  a  Roman  citizen  without  your  com- 
mand," speaking  to  the  Quirites. 


46  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

bitter  plans  about  the  destruction  of  the  Eoman  people,  and 
the  ruin  of  this  city,  can  be  called  a  friend  of  the  people. 
Therefore  this  most  gentle  and  merciful  man  does  not  hesitate 
to  commit  Publius  Lentulus  to  eternal  darkness  and  imprison- 
ment, and  establishes  a  law  to  all  posterity  that  no  one  shall 
be  able  to  boast  of  alleviating  his  punishment,  or  hereafter  .to 
appear  a  friend  of  the  people  to  the  destruction  of  the  Roman 
people.  He  adds  also  the  confiscation  of  their  goods,  so  that 
want  also  and  beggary  may  bemadded  to  all  the  torments  of 
mind  and  body. 

VI.  Wherefore,  if  you  decide  on  this  you  give  me  a  com- 
panion in  my  address,  dear  and  acceptable  to  the  Romj'n  peo- 
ple ;  or  if  you  prefer  to  adopt  the  opinion  of  Silanus,  you  will 
easily  defend  me  and  yourselves  from  the  reproach  of  cruelty, 
and  I  will  prevail  that  it  shall  be  much  lighter.  Although, 
O  conscript  fathers,  what  cruelty  can  there  be  in  chastising 
the  enormity  of  such  excessive  wickedness?  For  I  decide 
from  my  own  feeling.  For  so  may  I  be  allowed  to  enjoy  the 
republic  in  safety  in  your  company,  as  I  am  not  moved  to  be 
somewhat  vehement  in  this  cause  by  any  severity  of  disposi- 
tion (for  who  is  more  merciful  than  I  am  ?),  but  rather  by  a 
singular  humanity  and  mercifulness.  For  I  seem  to  myself  to 
see  this  city,  the  light  of  the  world,  and  the  citadel  of  all  na- 
tions, falling  on  a  sudden  by  one  conflagration.  I  see  in  my 
mind's  eye  miserable  and  unburied  heaps  of  cities  in  my  buried 
country ;  the  sight  of  Cethegus  and  his  madness  raging  amid 
your  slaughter  is  ever  present  to  my  sight.  But  when  I  have 
set  before  myself  Lentulus  reigning,  as  he  himself  confesses 
that  he  had  hoped  was  his  destiny,  and  this  Gabinius  arr.  yed 
in  the  purple,  and  Catiline  arrive'd  with  his  army,  then  I  shud- 
der at  the  lamentation  of  matrons,  and  the  flight  of  virgins  and 
of  boys,  and  the  insults  of  the  vestal  virgins  ;  and  because  these 
things  appear  to  me  exceedingly  miserable  and  pitiable,  there- 
fore I  show  myself  severe  and  rigorous  to  those  who  have 
wished  to  bring  about  this  state  of  things.  I  ask,  forsooth, 
if  any  father  of  a  family,  supposing  his  children  had  been  slain 
by  a  slave,  his  wife  murdered,  his  house  burned,  were  not  to 
inflict  on  his  slaves  the  severest  possible  punishment,  would 
he  appear  clement  and  merciful,  or  most  inhuman  and  cruel  ? 
To  me  he  would  seem  unnatural  and  hard-hearted  who  did 
not  soothe  his  own  pain  and  anguish  by  the  pain  and  tor- 
ture of  the  criminal.     And  so  we,  in  the  case  of  these  men 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  4? 

who  desired  to  murder  us,  and  our  wives,  and  our  children — 
who  endeavored  to  destroy  the  houses  of  every  individual 
among  us,  and  also  the  republic,  the  home  of  all — who  de- 
signed to  place  the  nation  of  the  Allobroges  on  the  relics  of 
this  city,  and  on  the  ashes  of  the  empire  destroyed  by  fire; 
if  we  are  very  rigorous,  we  shall  be  considered  merciful ;  if 
we  choose  to  be  lax,  we  must  endure  the  character  of  the 
greatest  cruelty,  to  the  damage  of  our  country  and  our  fellow- 
citizens. 

Unless,  indeed,  Lucius1  Caesar,  a  thoroughly  brave  man,  and 
of  the  best  disposition  toward  the  republic,  seemed  to  any  one 
to  be^too  cruel  three  days  ago,  when  he  said  that  the  husband 
of  his  own  sister,  a  most  excellent  woman  (in  his  presence 
and  in  his  hearing),  ought  to  be  deprived  of  life — when  he 
said  that  his  grandfather  had  been  put  to  death  by  command 
of  the  consul,  and  his  youthful  son,  sent  as  an  embassador  by 
his  father,  had  been  put  to  death  in  prison.  And  what  deed 
had  they  done  like  these  men  %  had  they  formed  any  plan  for 
destroying  the  republic?  At  that  time  great  corruption  was 
rife  in  the  republic,  and  there  was  the  greatest  strife  between 
parties.  And,  at  that  time,  the  grandfather  of  this  Lentulus, 
a  most  illustrious  man,  put  on  his  armor  and  pursued  Grac- 
chus ;  he  even  received  a  severe  wound  that  there  might  be  no 
diminution  of  the  great  dignity  of  the  republic.  But  this  man, 
his  grandson,  invited  the  Gauls  to  overthrow  the  foundations 
of  the  republic ;  he  stirred  up  the  slaves,  he  summoned  Cati- 
line, he  distributed  us  to  Cethegus  to  be  massacred,  and  the 
rest  of  the  citizens  to  Gabinius  to  be  assassinated,  the  city  he 
aHotted  to  Cassius  to  burn,  and  the  plundering  and  devasta- 
ting of  all  Italy  he  assigned  to  Catiline.  You  fear,  I  think,  lest 
in  the  case  of  such  unheard-of  and  abominable  wickedness  you 
should  seem  to  decide  any  thing  with  too  great  severity ;  when 
we  ought  much  more  to  fear  lest  by  being  remiss  in  punishing 
we  should  appear  cruel  to  our  country,  rather  than  appear  by 
the  severity  of  our  irritation  too  rigorous  to  its  most  bitter 
enemies. 

VH.  But,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  can  not  conceal  what  I 

1  The  brother-in-law  of  Lucius  Caesar  was  Marcus  Fulvius,  whose 
death,  at  the  command  of  Opimius  the  consul,  is  referred  to  in  the  2d 
cap.  1st  Cat.  He  sent  his  son  to  the  consul  to  treat  for  his  surrender, 
whom  Opimius  sent  back  the  first  time,  and  forbade  to  return  to  himj 
when  he  did  return,  he  put  him  to  death. 


48  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

hear ;  for  sayings  are  bruited  about,  which  come  to  my  ears, 
of  those  men  who  seem  to  fear  that  I  may  not  have  force 
enough  to  put  in  execution  the  things  which  you  determine 
on  this  day.  Every  thing  is  provided  for,  and  prepared,  and 
arranged,  O  conscript  fathers,  both  by  my  exceeding  care  and 
diligence,  and  also  by  the  still  greater  zeal  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple for  the  retaining  of  their  supreme  dominion,  and  for  the 
preserving  of  the  fortunes  of  all.  All  men  of  all  ranks  are. 
present,  and  of  all  ages ;  the  forum  is  full,  the  temples  around 
the  forum  are  full,  all  the  approaches  to  this  place  and  to  this 
temple  are  full.  For  this  is  the  only  cause  that  has  ever  been 
known  since  the  first  foundation  of  the  city,  in  which  all  men 
were  of  one  and  the  same  opinion — except  those,  who,  as  they 
saw  they  must  be  ruined,  preferred  to  perish  in  company  with 
all  the  world  rather  than  by  themselves. 

These  men  I  except,  and  I  willingly  set  them  apart  from 
the  rest;  for  I  do  not  think -that  they  should  be  classed  in  the 
number  of  worthless  citizens,  but  in  that  of  the  most  bitter 
enemies.  But,  as  for  the  rest ;  O  ye  immortal  gods !  in  what 
crowds,  with  what  zeal,  with  what  virtue  do  they  agree  in  de- 
fense of  the  common  dignity  and  safety.  Why  should  I  here 
speak  of  the  Roman  knights'?  who  yield  to  you  the  supremacy 
in  rank  and  wisdom,  in  order  to  vie  with  you  in  love  for  the 
republic — whom  this  day  and  this  cause  now  reunite  with  you 
in  alliance  and  unanimity  with  your  body,  reconciled  after  a 
disagreement  of  many  years.  And  if  we  can  preserve  forever 
in  the  republic  this  union  now  established  in  my  consulship,  I 
pledge  myself  to  you  that  no  civil  and  domestic  calamity  can 
hereafter  reach  any  part  of  the  republic.  I  see  that  the  trib- 
unes of  the  treasury — excellent  men — have  united  with  similar 
zeal  in  defense  of  the  republic,  and  all  the  notaries.1  For  as 
this  day  had  by  chance  brought  them  in  crowds  to  the  treasury, 
I  see  that  they  were  diverted  from  an  anxiety  for  the  money 
due  to  them,  from  an  expectation  of  their  capital,  to  a  regard 
for  the  common  safety.  The  entire  multitude  of  honest  men, 
even  the  poorest,  is  present ;  for  who  is  there  to  whom  these 
temples,  the  sight  of  the  city,  the  possession  of  liberty — in  short, 

1  The  notaries  at  Rome  were  in  the  pay  of  the  state  ;  they  were  chiefly 
employed  in  making  up  the  public  accounts.  In  the  time  of  Cicero  it 
seems  to  have  been  lawful  for  any  one  to  obtain  the  office  of  scriba  by 
purchase  (see  Cic.  in  Verr.  ii.  79),  and  freedmen  and  their  sons  frequent- 
ly availed  themselves  of  this  privilege. 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  49 

this  light  and  this  soil  of  his,  common  to  us  all,  is  not  both 
dear  and  pleasant  and  delightful  ? 

VIII.  It  is  worth  while,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  know  the 
inclinations  of  the  freedmen ;  who,  having  by  their  good  for- 
tune obtained  the  rights  of  citizens,  consider  this  to  be  really 
their  country,  which  some  who  have  been  born  here,  and  born 
in  the  highest  rank,  have  considered  to  be  not  their  own  coun- 
try, but  a  city  of  enemies.  But  why  should  I  speak  of  men  of 
this  body  whom  their  private  fortunes,  whom  their  common 
republic,  whom,  in  short,  that  liberty  which  is  most  delightful 
has  called  forth  to  defend  the  safety  of  their  country  !  There 
is  no  slave  who  is  only  in  an  endurable  condition  of  slavery 
who  does  not  shudder  at  the  audacity  of  citizens,  who  does  not 
desire  that  these  things  may  stand,  who  does  not  contribute 
all  the  good-will  that  he  can,  and  all  that  he  dares,  to  the  com- 
mon safety. 

"Wherefore,  if  this  consideration  moves  any  one,  that  it  has 
been  heard  that  some  tool  of  Lentulus  is  running  about  the 
shops — is  hoping  that  the  minds  of  some  poor  and  ignorant 
men  may  be  corrupted  by  bribery ;  that,  indeed,  has  been 
attempted  and  begun,  but  no  one  has  been  found  either  so 
wretched  in  their  fortune  or  so  abandoned  in  their  inclination 
as  not  to  wish  the  place  of  their  seat  and  work  and  daily  gain, 
their  chamber  and  their  bed,  and,  in  short,  the  tranquil  course 
or  their  lives,  to  be  still  preserved  to  them.  And  far  the 
greater  part  of  those  who  are  in  the  shops — ay,  indeed  (for 
that  is  the  more  correct  way  of  speaking),  the  whole  of  this 
class  is  of  all  the  most  attached  to  tranquillity;  their  whole 
stock,  forsooth,  their  whole  employment  and  livelihood,  exists 
by  the  peaceful  intercourse  of  the  citizens,  and  is  wholly  sup- 
ported by  peace.  And  if  their  gains  are  diminished  whenever 
their  shops  are  shut,  what  will  they  be  when  thej  are  burned  ? 
And,  as  this  is  the  case,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  protection  of 
the  Roman  people  is  not  wanting  to  you ;  do  you  take  care 
that  you  do  not  seem  to  be  wanting  to  the  Roman  people. 

IX.  You  have  a  consul  preserved  out  of  many  dangers  and 
plots,  and  from  death  itself,  not  for  his  own  life,  but  for  your 
safety.  All  ranks  agree  for  the  preservation  of  the  republic 
with  heart  and  will,  with  zeal,  with  virtue,  with  their  voice. 
Your  common  country,  besieged  by  the  hands  and  weapons  of 
an  impious  conspiracy,  stretches  forth  her  hands  to  you  as  a 
suppliant ;  to  you  she  recommends  herself,  to  you  she  recom- 

C 


50  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mends  the  lives  of  all  the  citizens,  and  the  citadel,  and  the 
Capitol,  and  the  altars  of  the  household  gods,  and  the  eternal 
unextinguishable  fire  of  Vesta,  and' all  the  temples  of  all  the 
gods,  and  the  altars  and  the  walls  and  the  houses  of  the  city. 
Moreover,  your  own  lives,  those  of  your  wives  and  children, 
the  fortunes  of  all  men,  your  homes,  your  hearths,  are  this  day 
interested  in  your  decision. 

You  have  a  leader  mindful  of  you,  forgetful  of  himself — an 
opportunity  which  is  not  always  given  to  men  ;  you  have  all 
ranks,  all  individuals,  the  whole  Koman  people  (a  thing  which 
in  civil  transactions  we  see  this  day  for  the  first  time),  full  of 
one  and  the  same  feeling.  Think  with  what  great  labor  this 
our  dominion  was  founded,  by  what  virtue  this  our  liberty  was 
established,  by  what  kind  favor  of  the  gods  our  fortunes  were 
aggrandized  and  ennobled,  and  how  nearly  one  night  destroyed 
them  all.  That  this  may  never  hereafter  be  able  not  only  to 
be  done,  but  not  even  to  be  thought  of,  you  must  this  day  take 
care.  And  I  have  spoken  thus,  not  in  order  to  stir  you  up 
who  almost  outrun  me  myself,  but  that  my  voice,  which  ought 
to  be  the  chief  voice  in  the  republic,  may  appear  to  have  ful- 
filled the  duty  which  belongs  to  me  as  consul. 

X.  Now,  before  I  return  to  the  decision,  I  will  say  a  few 
words  concerning  myself..  As  numerous  as  is  the  band  of 
conspirators — and  you  see  that  it  is  very  great — so  numerous 
a  multitude  of  enemies  do  I  see  that  I  have  brought  upon  my- 
self. But  I  consider  them  base  and  powerless  and  despicable 
and  abject.  But  if  at  any  time  that  band  shall  be  excited  by 
the  wickedness  and  madness  of  any  one,  and  shall  show  itself 
more  powerful  than  your  dignity  and  that  of  the  republic,  yet, 
O  conscript  fathers,  I  shall  never  repent  of  my  actions  and  of 
my  advice.  Death,  indeed,  which  they  perhaps  threaten  me 
with,  is  prepared  for  all  men ;  such  glory  during  life  as  you 
have  honored  me  with  by  your  decrees  no  one  has  ever  at- 
tained to.  For  you  have  passed  votes  of  congratulation  to 
others  for  having  governed  the  republic  successfully,  but  to  me 
alone  for  having  saved  it. 

Let  Scipio  be  thought  illustrious,  he  by  whose  wisdom  and 
valor  Hannibal  was  compelled  to  return  into  Africa,  and  to 
depart  from  Italy.  Let  the  second  Africanus  be  extolled  with 
conspicuous  praise,  who  destroyed  two  cities  most  hostile  to 
this  empire,  Carthage  and  Numantia.  Let  Lucius  Paullus  be 
thought  a  great  man,  he  whose  triumphal  car  was  graced  by 


IV.  AGAINST  L.  CATILINE.  51 

Perses,  previously  a  most  powerful  and  noble  monarch.  Let 
Marius  be  held  in  eternal  honor,  who  twice  delivered  Italy 
from  siege,  and  from  the  fear  of  slavery.  Let  Pompey  be  pre- 
ferred to  them  all — Pompey,  whose  exploits  and  whose  virtues 
we  bounded  by  the  same  districts  and  limits  as  the  course  of 
the  sun.  There  will  be,  forsooth,  among  the  praises  of  these 
men,  some  room  for  my  glory,  unless  haply  it  be  a  greater  deed 
to  open  to  us  provinces  whither  we  may  fly,  than  to  take  care 
that  those  who  are  at  a  distance  may,  when  conquerors,  have 
a  home  to  return  to. 

Although  in  one  point  the  circumstances  of  foreign  triumph 
are  better  than  those  of  domestic  victory ;  because  foreign  en- 
emies, either  if  they  be  crushed  become  one's  servants,  or  if 
they  be  received  into  the  state,  think  themselves  bound  to  us 
by  obligation ;  but  those  of  the  number  of  citizens  who  be- 
come depraved  by  madness  and  once  begin  to  be  enemies  to 
their  country — those  men,  when  you  have  defeated  their  at- 
tempts to  injure  the  republic,  you  can  neither  restrain  by  force 
nor  conciliate  by  kindness.  So  that  I  see  that  an  eternal  war 
with  all  wicked  citizens  has  "been  undertaken  by  me ;  which, 
however,  f_am  ronfidtmt  can -easily  be  driven  back  from  me 
and  mine  by  your  aid,  and  by  that  of  all  good  men,  and  by  the 
memory  of  such  great  dangers,  which  will  remain,  not  only 
among  this  people  which  has  been  saved,  but  in  the  discourse 
and  minds  of  all  nations  forever.  Nor,  in  truth,  can  any  power 
be  found  which  will  be  able  to  undermine  and  destroy  your 
union  with  the  Boman  knights,  and  such  unanimity  as  exists 
among  all  good  men. 

XI.  As,  then,  this  is  the  case,  O  conscript  fathers,  instead 
of  my  military  command — instead  of  the  army — instead  of 
the  province1  which  I  have  neglected,  and  the  other  badges 
of  honor  which  have  been  rejected  by  me  for  the  sake  of 
protecting  the  city  and  your  safety — in  place  of  the  ties  of 
clientship  and  hospitality'  with  citizens  in  the  provinces, 
which,  however,  by  my  influence  in  the  city,  I  study  to  pre- 
serve with  as  much  toil  as  I  labor  to  acquire  them  —  in 
place  of  all  these  things,  and  in  reward  for  my  singular  zeal 

1  Cicero,  in  order  to  tempt  Antonius  to  aid  him  in  counteracting  the 
treasonable  design  af  Catiline,  had  given  up  to  him  the  province  of  Mac- 
edonia, which  had  fallen  to  his  own  lot ;  and  having  accepted  that  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul  in  exchange  for  it.  he  gave  that  also  to  Quintus  Metellus  ; 
being  resolved  to  receive  no  emolument,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  his 
consulship. 


52  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

in  your  behalf,  and  for  this  diligence  in  saving  the  republic 
which  you  behold,  I  ask  nothing  of  you  but  the  recollection 
of  this  time  and  of  my  whole  consulship.  And  as  long  as  that 
is  fixed  in  your  minds,  I  shall  think  I  am  fenced  round  by  the 
strongest  wall.  But  if  the  violence  of  wicked  men  shall  de- 
ceive and  overpower  my  expectations,  I  recommend  to  you  my 
little  son,  to  whom,  in  truth,  it  will  be  protection  enough,  not 
only  for  his  safety,  but  even  for  his  dignity,  if  you  recollect 
that  he  is  the  son  of  him  who  has  saved  all  these  things  at  his 
©wn  single  risk. 

Wherefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  determine  with  care,  as  you 
have  begun,  and  boldly,  concerning  your  own  safety,  and  that 
of  the  Roman  people,  and  concerning  your  wives  and  chil- 
dren ;  concerning  your  altars  and  your  hearths,  your  shrines 
and  temples ;  concerning  the  houses  and  homes  of  the  whole 
city;  concerning  your  dominion,  your  liberty,  and  the  safety 
of  Italy  and  the  whole  republic.  For  you  have  a  consul  who 
will  not  hesitate  to  obey  your  decrees,  and  who  will  be  able, 
as  long  as  he  lives,  to  defend  what  you  decide  on,  and  of  his 
own  power  to  execute  it.1 

1  This  speech  was  spoken,  and  the  criminals  executed,  on  the  fifth  of 
December.  But  Catiline  was  not  yet  entirely  overcome.  He  had  with 
him  in  Etruria  two  legions — about  twelve  thousand  men  ;  of  which,  how- 
ever, not  above  one  quarter  were  regularly  armed.  For  some  time  by 
marches  and  countermarches  he  eluded  Antonius,  but  when  the  news 
reached  his  army  of  the  fate  of  the  rest  of  the  conspirators,  it  began  to 
desert  him  in  great  numbers.  He  attempted  to  escape  into  Gaul,  but 
found  himself  intercepted  by  Metellus,  who  had  been  sent  thither  by  Cic- 
ero with  three  legions.  Antonius  is  supposed  not  to  have  been  disin* 
clined  to  connive  at  his  escape,  if  he  had  not  been  compelled  as  it  were 
by  his  qusestor  Sextus  and  his  lieutenant  Petreius  to  force  him  to  a  bat- 
tle, in  which,  however,  Antonius  himself,  being  ill  of  the  gout,  did  not 
take  the  command,  which  devolved  on  Petreius,  who  after  a  severe  action 
destroyed  Catiline  and  his  whole  army,  of  which  every  man  is  said  to 
have  been  slain  in  the  battle. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  53 


THE  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE  OF  L.  MURE- 
NA, PROSECUTED  FOR  BRIBERY. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Lucius  Murena  was  one  of  the  consuls  elect ;  the  other  being  Silanus, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Cato.  Cato,  however,  instigated  Sulpicius,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in  Rome,  and  a  defeated  competitor  for 
the  consulship,  to  prosecute  Murena  for  bribery,  under  the  new  law 
passed  by  Cicero  (mentioned  in  the  argument  to  the  first  oration  against 
Catiline),  though  he  brought  no  charge  against  Silanus,  who  was  as 
guilty  as  Murena,  if  there  was  any  guilt  at  all.  Murena  had  served  as 
lieutenant  to  Lucullus  in  the  Mithridatic  war.  Murena  was  defended 
by  Crassus,  Hortensius,  and  Cicero.  We  have  neither  of  the  speeches 
of  his  other  advocates  ;  and  even  the  speech  of  Cicero  is  not  in  a  per- 
fect state.  Murena  was  unanimously  acquitted,  partly  perhaps  from 
consideration  of  the  argument  which  Cicero  dwelt  upon  very  earnest- 
ly, of  what  great  importance  it  was,  at  such  a  perilous  time  (for  this 
oration  was  spoken  in  the  interval  between  the  flight  of  Catiline  to  the 
camp  of  Manlius,  and  the  final  detection  and  condemnation  of  the  con- 
spirators who  remained  behind),  to  have  a  consul  of  tried  bravery  and 
military  experience.  It  is  remarkable  that  Sulpicius,  the  prosecutor, 
was  a  most  intimate  friend  of  Cicero,  who  had  exerted  all  his  influence 
to  procure  his  election  in  this  very  contest  for  the  consulship  ;  and  so 
also  was  Cato  ;  nor  did  the  opposition  which  Cicero  made  to  them  in 
this  case  cause  any  interruption  to  their  intimacy,  and  we  shall  find, 
in  the  Philippics,  Cicero  exerting  himself  to  procure  public  funeral  hon- 
ors for  Sulpicius. 

I.  What  I  entreated  of  the  immortal  gods,  O  judges,  ac- 
cording to  the  manners  and  institutions  of  our  ancestors,  op. 
that  day  when,  after  taking  the  auspices  in  the  comitia  cen- 
turiata,1  I  declared  Lucius  Murena  to  have  been  elected  con- 
sul— namely,  that  that  fact  might  turn  out  gloriously  and  hap- 
pily for  me  and  for  my  office,  and  for  the  Roman  nation  and 
people — that  same  thing  do  I  now  pray  for  from  the  same 

1  The  comitia  centuriata,  or  as  they  were  sometimes  called  majora, 
were  the  assembly  in  which  the  people  gave  their  votes  according  to  the 
classification  instituted  by  Servius  Tullius  ;  they  were  held  in  the  Cam- 
pus Martius  without  the  city,  and  in  reference  to  thei*-  military  organiza- 
tion they  were  summoned  by  the  sound  of  the  horn,  not  by  the  voice  of 
the  lictor.     All  magistrates  were  elected  in  these  comitia. 


54  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

immortal  gods,  that  the  consulship  may  be  obtained  by  that 
same  man  with  safety,  and  that  your  inclinations  and  opinions 
may  agree  with  the  wishes  and  suffrages  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, and  that  that  fact  may  bring  to  you  and  to  the  Roman 
people  peace,  tranquillity,  ease,  and  unanimity.  And  if  that 
solemn  prayer  of  the  comitia,  consecrated  under  the  auspices 
of  the  consul,  has  as  much  power  and  holy  influence  as  the 
dignity  of  the  republic  requires,  I  pray  also  that  the  matter 
may  turn  out  happily,  fortunately,  and  prosperously  to  those 
men  to  whom  the  consulship  was  given  when  I  presided  over 
the  election. 

And  as  this  is  the  case,  O  judges,  and  as  all  the  power  of 
the  immortal  gods  is  either  transferred  to,  or  at  all  events  is 
shared  with  you,  the  same  consul  recommends  him  now  to 
your  good  faith  who  before  recommended  him  to  the  immortal 
gods ;  so  that  he  being  both  declared  consul  and  being  defend- 
ed by  the  voice  of  the  same  man,  may  uphold  the  kindness  of 
the  Roman  people  to  your  safety  and  that  of  all  the  citizens. 
And  since  in  this  duty  which  I  have  undertaken  the  zeal  of 
my  defense  has  been  found  fault  with  by  the  accusers,  and 
even  the  very  fact  of  my  having  undertaken  the  cause  at  all, 
before  I  begin  to  say  any  thing  of  Lucius  Murena,  I  will  say 
a  few  words  on  behalf  of  myself;  not  because  at  this  time  the 
defense  of  my  duty  seems  to  me  more  important  than  that  of 
his  safety,  but  in  order  that,  when  what  I  have  done  is  ap- 
proved of  by  you,  I  may  be  able  with  the  greater  authority  to 
repel  the  attacks  of  his  enemies  upon  his  honor,  his  reputation, 
and  all  his  fortunes. 

II.  And  first  of  all  I  will  answer  Marcus  Cato,  a  man  who 
directs  his  life  by  a  certain  rule  and  system,  and  who  most 
carefully  weighs  the  motives  of  every  duty,  about  my  own 
duty.  Cato  says  it  is  not  right,  that  I  who  have  been  consul 
and  the  very  passer1  of  the  law  of  bribery  and  corruption,  and 
who  behaved  so  rigorously  in  my  own  consulship,  should  take 
up  the  cause  of  Lucius  Murena ;  and  his  reproach  has  great 
weight  with  me,  and  makes  me  desirous  to  make  not  only  you, 

1  There  had  been  several  previous  laws  against  bribery  and  corruption 
(de  amhitv).  The  Lex  Aciiia,  passed  b.c.  67,  imposed  a  fine  on  the  of- 
fending party,  with  exclusion  from  the  senate,  and  from  all  public  offices. 
The  Lex  Ttulia,  passed  in  Cicero's  consulship,  added  banishment  for  ten 
years  ;  and,  among  other  restrictions,  forbade  any  one  to  exhibit  gladia- 
tors within  two  years  of  his  being  a  candidate,  unless  he  was  required  to 
do  bo  on  a  fixed  day  by  a  testator's  will. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  55 

0  judges,  whom  I  am  especially  bound  to  satisfy,  but  also 
Cato  himself,  a  most  worthy  and  upright  man,  approve  the 
reasons  of  my  action.  By  whom  then,  O  Marcus  Cato,  is  it 
more  just  that  a  consul  should  be  defended  than  by  a  consul  ? 
Who  can  there  be,  who  ought  there  to  be,  dearer  to  me  in  the 
republic,  than  he  to  whom  the  republic  which  has  been  sup- 
ported by  my  great  labors  and  dangers  is  delivered  by  me  alone 
to  be  supported  for  the  future?  For  if,  in  the  demanding 
back  things  which  may  be  alienated,  he  ought  to  incur  the 
hazard  of  the  trial  who  has  bound  himself  by  a  legal  obliga- 
tion, surely  still  more  rightly  in  the  trial  of  a  consul  elect,  that 
consul  who  has  declared  him  consul  ought  most  especially  to 
be  the  first  niover  of  the  kindness  of  the  Roman  people,  and 
his  defender  from  danger. 

And  if,  as  is  accustomed  to  be  done  in  some  states,  an  ad- 
vocate was  appointed  to  this  cause  by  the  public,  that  man 
would  above  all  others  be  assigned  to  one  invested  with  hon- 
ors  as  his  defender,  who  having  himself  enjoyed  the  same  hon- 
or, brought  to  his  advocacy  no  less  authority  than  ability. 
But  if  those  who  are  being  wafted  from  the  main  into  harbor 
are  wont  with  the  greatest  care  to  inform  those  who  are  sail- 
ing out  of  harbor,  of  the  character  of  storms,  and  pirates,  and 
of  places,  because  nature  prompts  us  to  favor  those  who  are 
entering  on  the  same  dangers  which  we  have  passed  through, 
of  what  disposition  ought  I  to  be,  who  after  having  been  much 
tossed  about  am  now  almost  in  sight  of  land,  toward  him  by 
whom  I  see  the  greatest  tempests  of  the  republic  about  to  be 
encountered  %  "Wherefore,  if  it  is  the  part  of  a  virtuous  con- 
sul not  only  to  see  what  is  being  done,  but  to  foresee  what  is 
likely  to  happen,  I  will  show  in  another  place  how  much  it  is 
for  the  interest  of  the  common  safety  that  there  should  be  two 
consuls  in  the  republic  on  the  first  of  January.  And  if  that 
be  the  case,  then  it  is  not  so  much  my  duty  which  ought  to 
summon  me  to  defend  the  fortunes  of  a  man  who  is  my  friend, 
as  the  republic  which  ought  to  invite  the  consul  to  the  de- 
fense of  the  common  safety. 

III.  For  as  to  my  having  passed  a  law  concerning  bribery 
and  corruption,  certainly  I  passed  it  so  as  not  to  abrogate 
that  law  which  I  have  long  since  made  for  myself  concerning 
defending  my  fellow-citizens  from  dangers.  If,  indeed,  I  con- 
fessed that  a  largess  had  been  distributed,  and  were  to  defend 
it  as  having  been  rightly  done,  I  should  be  acting  wrongly, 


56  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

even  if  another  had  passed  the  law  ;  but  when  I  am  saying  in 
defense  that  nothing  has  been  done  contrary  to  law,  then  what 
reason  is  there  that  my  having  passed  the  law  should  be  an  ob- 
stacle to  my  undertaking  the  defense? 

He  says  that  it  does  not  belong  to  the  same  severity  of  char- 
acter, to  have  banished  from  the  city  by  words,  and  almost  by 
express  command,  Catiline,  when  planning  the  destruction  of 
the  republic  within  its  very  walls,  and  now  to  speak  on  be- 
half of  Lucius  Murcna.  But  I  have  always  willingly  acted 
the  part  of  lenity  and  clemency,  which  nature  itself  has  taught 
me  ;  but  I  have  not  sought  the  character  of  severity  and  rig- 
or; but  I  have  supported  it  when  imposed  upon  me  by  the 
republic,  as  the  dignity  of  this  empire  required  at  the  time  of 
the  greatest  peril  to  the  citizens.  But  if  then,  when  the  pub- 
lic required  vigor  and  severity,  I  overcame  my  nature,  and 
was  as  severe  as  I  was  forced  to  be,  not  as  I  wished  to  be; 
now,  when  all  causes  invite  me  to  mercy  and  humanity,  with 
what  great  zeal  ought  I  to  obey  my  nature  and  my  usual  hab- 
its'? and  concerning  my  duty  of  defending,  and  your  method 
of  prosecuting,  perhaps  I  shall  have  again  to  speak  in  another 
part  of  my  speech. 

But,  O  Judges,  the  complaint  of  Servius  Sulpicius,  a  most 
wise  and  accomplished  man,  moved  me  no  less  than  the  accu- 
sation of  Cato  ;  for  he  said  that  he  was  exceedingly  and  most 
bitterly  vexed  that  I  had  forgotten  my  friendship  and  intima- 
cy with  him,  and  was  defending  the  cause  of  Lucius  Murena 
against  him.  I  wish,  O  judges,  to  satisfy  him,  and  to  make 
you  arbitrators  between  us.  For  as  it  is  a  sad  thing  to  be 
accused  with  truth  in  a  case  of  friendship,  so,  even  if  you  be 
falsely  accused,  it  is  not  to  be  neglected.  I,  O  Servius  .Sulpi- 
cius, both  allow  that  according  to  my  intimacy  with  you  1  did 
owe  you  all  my  zeal  and  activity  to  assist  you  in  your  can- 
vass, and  I  think  I  displayed  it.  When  you  stood  for  the 
consulship,  nothing  on  my  part  was  wanting  to  you  which 
could  have  been  expected  either  from  a  friend,  or  from  an 
obliging  person,  or  from  a  consul.  That  time  has  gone  by — 
the  case  is  changed.  I  think,  and  am  persuaded,  that  I  owed 
you  as  much  aid  as  ever  you  have  ventured  to  require  of  me 
against  the  advancement  of  Lucius  Murena;  but  no  aid  at  all 
against  his  safety.  Nor  does  it  follow,  because  I  stood  by  you 
when  you  were  a  candidate  for  the  consulship,  that  on  that 
account  I  ought  now  to  be  an  :.-         int  to  you  in  the  same 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  CI 

way,  when  you  are  attacking  Murena  himself.  And  this  is 
not  only  not  praiseworthy — it  is  not  even  allowable,  that  we 
may  not  defend  even  those  who  are  most  entirely  strangers  to 
us  when  our  friends  accuse  them,  v 

IV.  But,  in  truth,  there  is,  O  judges,  between  Murena  and 
myself  an  ancient  and  great  friendship,  which  shall  not  be 
overwhelmed  in  a  capital  trial  by  Servius  Sulpicius,  merely 
because  it  was  overcome  by  superior  considerations  when  he 
was  contesting  an  honorable  office  with  that  same  person. 
And  if  this  cause  had  not  existed,  yet  the  dignity  of  the  man, 
and  the  honorable  nature  of  that  office  which  he  has  obtain- 
ed, would  have  branded  me  with  the  deepest  reproach  of  pride 
and  cruelty,  if  in  so  great  a  danger  I  had  repudiated  the  cause 
of  a  man  so  distinguished  by  his  own  virtues  and  by  the  hon- 
ors paid  him  by  the  Eoman  people.  For  it  is  not  now  in 
my  power — it  is  not  possible,  for  me  to  shrink  from  devoting 
my  labor  to  alleviate  the  dangers  of  others.  For  when  such 
rewards  have  been  given  me  for  this  diligence  of  mine,  such 
as  before  now  have  never  been  given  to  any  one,  to  abandon 
those  labors  by  which  I  have  earned  them,  as  soon  as  I  have 
received  them,  would  be  the  act  of  a  crafty  and  ungrateful 
man. 

If,  indeed,  I  may  rest  from  my  labors — if  you  advise  me 
that  I  can  do  so — if  no  reproach  of  indolence,  none  of  un- 
worthy arrogance,  none  of  inhumanity  is  incurred  by  so  do- 
ing, in  good  truth  I  will  willingly  rest.  But  if  flying  from 
toil  convicts  me  of  laziness — if  rejection  of  suppliants  con- 
victs me  of  arrogance — if  neglect  of  my  friends  is  a  proof  of 
worthlessness,  then,  above  all  others,  this  cause  is  such  a  one 
as  no  industrious,  or  merciful,  or  obliging  man  can  abandon. 
And  you  may  easily  form  your  opinion  of  this  matter,  O  Ser- 
vius,  from  your  own  pursuits.  For  if  you  think  it  necessary 
to  give  answers  to  even  the  adversaries  of  your  friends  when 
they  consult  you  about  law,  and  if  you  think  it  shameful, 
when  you  have  been  retained  as  an  advocate  for  him  in  whose 
cause  you  have  come  forward,  to  fail ;  be  not  so  unjust,  as, 
when  your  springs  are  open  even  to  your  enemies,  to  think  it 
ricrht  that  our  small  streams  should  be  closed  even  against  our 
friends. 

Forsooth,  if  my  intimacy  with  you  had  prevented  my  ap- 
pearing in  this  cause,  and  if  the  same  thing  had  happened 
to  Quintus  Hortensius  and  Marcus  Crassus,  most  honorable 

C  2 


58  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

men,  and  to  others  also  by  whom  I  know  that  your  affection 
is  greatly  esteemed,  the  consul  elect  would  have  had  no  de- 
fender in  that  city  in  which  our  ancestors  intended  that  even 
the  lowest  of  the  people  should  never  want  an  advocate.  But 
I,  O  judges,  should  think  myself  wicked  if  I  had  failed  my 
friend — cruel  if  I  had  failed  one  in  distress — arrogant  if  I  had 
failed  the  consul.  So  that  what  ought  to  be  given  to  friend- 
ship shall  be  abundantly  given  by  me ;  so  that  I  will  deal 
with  you,  O  Servius,  as  if  my  brother,  who  is  the  dearest  of 
all  men  to  me,  stood  in  your  place.  What  ought  to  be  given 
to  duty,  to  good  faith,  to  religion,  that  I  will  so  regulate  as  to 
recollect  that  I  am  speaking  contrary  to  the  wish  of  one  friend 
to  defend  another  friend  from  danser. 

Y.  I  understand,  O  judges,  that  this  whole  accusation  is 
divided  into  three  parts ;  and  that  one  of  them  refers  to  find- 
ing fault  with  Murena's  habits  of  life,  another  to  his  contest 
for  the  dignity,  and  a  third  to  charges  of  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion. And  of  these  three  divisions,  that  first,  which  ought  to 
have  been  the  weightiest  of  all,  was  so  weak  and  trifling,  that 
it  was  rather  some  general  rule  of  accusing,  than  any  real 
occasion  for  finding  fault,  which  prompted  them  to  say  any 
thing  about  the  way  of  life  of  Lucius  Murena.  For  Asia  has 
been  mentioned  as  a  reproach  to  him,  which  was  not  sought 
by  him  for  the  sake  of  pleasure  and  luxury,  but  was  traversed 
by  him  in  the  performance  of  military  labors ;  but  if  he  while 
a  young  man  had  not  served  under  his  father  when  general, 
he  would  have  seemed  either  to  have  been  afraid  of  the  ene- 
my, or  of  the  command  of  his  father,  or  else  to  have  been  re- 
pudiated by  his  father.  Shall  we  say  that,  when  all  the  sons 
who  wear  the  praetexta1  are  accustomed  to  sit  on  the  chariot 
of  those  who  are  celebrating  a  triumph,  this  man  ought  to  have 
shunned  adorning  the  triumph  of  his  father  with  military  gifts, 
so  as  almost  to  share  his  father's  triumph  for  exploits  which 
they  had  performed  in  common'? 

But  this  man,  O  judges,  both  was  in  Asia  and  was  a  great 
assistance  to  that  bravest  of  men,  his  own  father,  in  his 
dangers,  a  comfort  to  him  in  his  labors,  a  source  of  congratu- 
lation to  him  in  his  victory.  And  if  Asia  does  carry  with 
it  a  suspicion    of  luxury,  surely  it  is  a  praiseworthy  thing, 

1  The  toga  prcetcxta  was  a  robe  bordered  with  purple,  worn  by  the 
higher  magistrates,  and  by  freeborn  children  till  they  arrived  at  the  age 
of  manhood. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  59 

not  never  to  have  seen  Asia,  but  to  have  lived  temperately  in 
Asia.  So  that  the  name  of  Asia  should  not  have  been  ob- 
jected to  Lucius  Murena,  a  country  whence  renown  was  de- 
rived for  his  family,  lasting  recollection  for  his  race,  honor 
and  glory  for  his  name,  but  some  crime  or  disgrace,  either 
incurred  in  Asia,  or  brought  home  from  Asia.  But  to  have 
served  campaigns  in  that  war  which  was  not  only  the  greatest 
but  the  only  war  which  the  Eoman  people  was  waging  at  that 
time,  is  a  proof  of  valor ;  to  have  served  most  willingly  under 
his  father,  who  was  commander-in-chief,  is  a  proof  of  piety ; 
that  the  end  of  his  campaign  was  the  victory  and  triumph  of 
his  father,  is  a  proof  of  good  fortune.  There  is,  therefore,  no 
room  in  these  matters  for  speaking  ill  of  him,  because  praise 
takes  up  the  whole  room. 

VI.  Cato  calls  Lucius  Murena  a  dancer.  If  this  be  im- 
puted to  him  truly,  it  is  the  reproach  of  a  violent  accuser; 
but  if  falsely,  it  is  the  abuse  of  a  scurrilous  railer.  "Where- 
fore, as  you  are  a  person  of  such  influence,  you  ought  not,  O 
Marcus  Cato,  to  pick  up  abusive  expressions  out  of  the  streets, 
or  out  of  some  quarrel  of  buffoons ;  you  ought  not  rashly  to 
call  a  consul  of  the  Eoman  people  a  dancer ;  but  to  consider 
with  what  other  vices  besides  that  man  must  be  tainted  to 
whom  that  can  with  truth  be  imputed.  For  no  man,  one  may 
almost  say,  ever  dances  when  sober,  unless  perhaps  he  be  a 
madman,  nor  in  solitude,  nor  in  a  moderate  and  sober  party ; 
dancing  is  the  last  companion  of  prolonged  feasting,  of  lux- 
urious situation,  and  of  many  refinements.  You  charge  me 
with  that  which  must  necessarily  be  the  last  of  all  vices,  you 
say  nothing  of  those  things  without  which  this  vice  absolutely 
can  not  exist ;  no  shameless  feasting,  no  improper  love,  no 
carousing,  no  lust,  no  extravagance  is  alleged;  and  when 
those  things  which  have  the  name  of  pleasure,  and  which  are 
vicious,  are  not  found,  do  you  think  that  you  will  find  the 
shadow  of  luxury  in  that  man  in  whom  you  can  not  find  the 
luxury  itself? 

Can  nothing,  therefore,  be  said  against  the  life  of  Lucius 
Murena"?  Absolutely  nothing,  I  say,  O  judges.  The  consul 
elect  is  defended  by  me  on  this  ground,  that  no  fraud  of  his, 
no  avarice,  no  perfidy,  no  cruelty,  no  wanton  word  can  be 
alleged  against  him  in  his  whole  life.  It  is  well.  The  foun- 
dations of  the  defense  are  laid ;  for  we  are  not  as  yet  defend- 
ing this  virtuous  and  upright  man  with  my  own  panegyric, 


60  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

which  I  will  employ  presently,  but  almost  by  the  eonfessior  of 
his  adversaries. 

VII.  And  now  that  this  is  settled,  the  approach  to  the  con- 
test for  this  dignity,  which  was  the  second  part  of  the  accusa- 
tion, is  more  easy  to  me.  I  see  that  there  is  in  you,  O  Servi- 
us  Sulpicius,  the  greatest  dignity  of  birth,  of  integrity,  of  in- 
dustry, and  of  all  the  other  accomplishments  which  a  man 
ought  to  rely  on  when  he  offers  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the 
consulship.  I  know  that  all  those  qualities  are  equal  in  Lu- 
cius Murena,  and  so  equal  that  he  can  neither  be  surpassed  in 
worth  by  you,  nor  can  himself  surpass  you  in  worth.  You 
have  spoken  slightingly  of  the  family  of  Lucius  Murena,  you 
have  extolled  your  own ;  but  if  you  dwell  on  this  topic  so  as 
to  allow  no  one  to  be  considered  as  born  of  a  good  family,  un- 
less he  be  a  patrician,  you  will  compel  the  common  people 
again  to  secede  to  the  Aventine  Hill.1  But  if  there  are  hon- 
orable and  considerable  families  among  the  plebeians — both 
the  great-grandfather  of  Lucius  Murena,  and  his  grandfather, 
were  praetors ;  and  his  father,  when  he  had  triumphed  most 
splendidly  and  honorably  for  exploits  performed  in  his  praetor- 
ship,  left  the  steps  toward  the  acquisition  of  the  consulship 
more  easy,  because  that  honor  which  was  due  to  the  father  was 
demanded  by  the  son. 

But  your  nobility,  O  Servius  Sulpicius,  although  it  is  most 
eminent,  yet  it  is  known  rather  to  men  versed  in  literature  and 
history,  but  not  much  so  to  the  people  and  to  the  voters.  For 
your  father  was  in  the  rank  of  the  knights,  your  grandfather 
was  renowned  for  no  conspicuous  action.  So  that  the  recol- 
lection of  your  nobility  is  to  be  extracted  not  from  the  modern 
conversation  of  men,  but  from  the  antiquity  of  annals.  So 
that  I  also  am  accustomed  to  class  you  in  our  number,  be- 
cause you  by  your  own  virtue  and  industry,  though  you  are 
the  son  of  a  Roman  knight,  have  yet  earned  the  being  consid- 
ered worthy  of  the  very  highest  advancement.  Nor  did  it 
ever  seem  to  me  that  there  was  less  virtue  in  Quintus  Pompe- 
ius,  a  new  man  and  a  most  brave  man,  than  in  that  most  high- 
born man,  Marcus  ^Emilius.V'  Indeed,  it  is  a  proof  of  the  same 
spirit  and  genius,  to  hand  down  to  his  posterity,  as  Pompeius 

1  This  refers  to  the  time  of  Appius  the  Decemvir,  when  the  soldiers, 
at  the  call  of  Virginius,  after  the  death  of  Virginia,  occupied  the  Aven- 
tine, and  were  joined  by  great  part  of  the  plebs,  demanding  the  abolition 
of  the  decemvirate. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  61 

did,  an  honorable  name,  which  he  had  not  received  from  his 
ancestors  ;  and,  as  Scaurus  did,  to  renew  the  recollection  of  his 
family  which  was  almost  extinct. 

VIII.  Although  I  now  thought,  O  judges,  that  it  had  been 
brought  about  by  my  labors,  that  a  want  of  nobleness  of  birth 
should  not  be  objected  to  many  brave  men,  who  were  neglect- 
ed, though  men  were  praising  not  only  the  Curii,  the  Catos, 
the  Pompeii,  those  ancient  new  but  most  distinguished  men, 
but  also,  these  more  modern  new  men,  the  Marii,  and  Didii, 
and  Ccelii.  But  when  I,  after  so  great  an  interval,  had  broken 
down  those  barriers  of  nobility,  so  that  entrance  to  the  consul- 
ship should  hereafter  be  opened,  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  our 
ancestors,  not  more  to  high  birth  than  to  virtue,  I  did  not 
think  when  a  consul-elect  of  an  ancient  and  illustrious  family 
was  being  defended  by  the  son  of  a  Roman  knight,  himself  a 
consul,  that  the  accusers  would  say  any  thing  about  newness 
of  family.  In  truth  it  happened  to  me  myself  to  stand  against 
two  patricians,  one  a  most  worthless  and  audacious  man,  the 
other  a  most  modest  and  virtuous  one  ;  yet  I  surpassed  Cati- 
line in  worth,  Galba  in  popularity.  But  if  that  ought  to  have 
been  imputed  as  a  crime  to  a  new  man,  forsooth,  I  should  have 
wanted  neither  enemies  nor  detractors. 

Let  us,  therefore,  give  up  saying  any  thing  about  birth,  the 
dignity  of  which  is  great  in  both  the  candidates  ;  let  us  look  at 
the  other  points.  He  stood  for  the  quaestorship  at  the  same 
time  with  me,  and  I  was  appointed  first.  We  need  not  an- 
swer every  point ;  for  it  can  not  escape  the  observation  of  any 
one  of  you,  when  many  men  are  appointed  equal  in  dignity,  but 
only  one  can  obtain  the  first  place,  that  the  order  of  the  digni- 
ty and  of  the  declaration  of  it  are  not  the  same,  because  the 
declaration  has  degrees,  but  the  dignity  of  all  is  usually  the 
same.  But  the  qusestorship  of  each  Avas  given  them  by  almost 
an  equal  decision  of  the  lots :  the  one  had  by  the  Titian  law  a 
quiet  and  orderly  province ;  you  had  that  one  of  Ostia,  at  the 
name  of  which,  when  the  quaestors  distribute  the  provinces  by 
lot,  a  shout  is  raised — a  province  not  so  much  pleasant  and 
illustrious  as  troublesome  and  vexatious.  The  name  of  each 
was  together  in  the  quasstorship.  For  the  drawing  of  the  lots 
gave  you  no  field  on  which  your  virtue  could  display  itself  and 
make  itself  known. 

\    IX.  The  remaining  space  of  time  is  dedicated  to  the  contest. 
It  was  employed  by  each  in  a  very  dissimilar  fashion.     Servius 


G2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

adopted  the  civil  service,  full  of  anxiety  and  annoyance,  of  an- 
swering, writing,  cautioning ;  lie  learned  the  civil  law ;  he 
worked  early  and  late,  he  toiled,  he  was  visible  to  every  one, 
he  endured  the  folly  of  crowds,  he  tolerated  their  arrogance, 
he  bore  all  sorts  of  difficulties,  he  lived  at  the  will  of  others, 
not  at  his  own.  It  is  a  great  credit,  a  thing  pleasing  to  men,  for 
one  man  to  labor  hard  in  that  science  which  will  profit  many. 

What  has  Murena  been  doing  in  the  mean  time  ?  He  was 
lieutenant  to  Lucius  Lucullus,  a  very  brave  and  wise  man,  and 
a  consummate  general;  and  in  this  post  he  commanded  an 
army,  he  fought  a  battle,  he  engaged  the  enemy,  he  routed 
numerous  forces  of  the  enemy,  he  took  several  cities,  some  by 
storm,  some  by  blockade.  He  traversed  that  populous  and 
luxurious  Asia  you  speak  of,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  in 
it  no  trace  either  of  his  avarice  or  of  his  luxury ;  in  a  most 
important  war  he  so  behaved  himself  that  he  performed  many 
glorious  exploits  without  the  commander-in-chief;  but  the 
commander-in-chief  did  nothing  without  him.  And  all  these 
things,  although  I  am  speaking  in  the  presence  of  Lucius  Lu- 
cullus, yet  that  we  may  not  appear  to  have  a  license  of  inven- 
tion granted  us  by  him  on  account  of  the  danger  we  are  in, 
we  are  borne  witness  to  in  the  public  dispatches;  in  which 
Lucius  Lucullus  gives  him  such  praise  as  no  ambitious  nor 
envious  commander-in-chief  could  have  given  another  while 
dividing  with  him  the  credit  of  his  exploits. 

There  is  in  each  of  the  rivals  the  greatest  honesty,  the 
greatest  worth  ;  which  I,  if  Servius  will  allow  me,  will  place  in 
equal  and  in  the  same  panegyric.  But  he  will  not  let  me  ;  he 
discusses  the  military  question ;  he  attacks  the  whole  of  his 
services  as  lieutenant ;  he  thinks  the  consulship  is  an  office  re- 
quiring diligence  and  all  this  daily  labor.  "  Have  you  been," 
says  he,  "  so  many  years  with  the  army  ?  you  can  never  have 
been  near  the  forum.  Have  you  been  away  so  long?  and  then, 
when  after  a  long  interval  you  arrive,  will  you  contend  in  dig- 
nity with  those  who  have  made  their  abode  in  the  forum  ?" 
First  of  all,  as  to  that  assiduity  of  ours,  O  Servius,  you  know 
not  what  disgust,  what  satiety,  it  sometimes  causes  men  ;  it 
was,  indeed,  exceedingly  advantageous  for  me  myself  that  my 
influence  was  in  the  sight  of  all  men;  but  I  overcame  the 
weariness  of  me  by  my  own  great  labor;  and  you,  perhaps, 
have  done  the  same  thing,  but  yet  a  regret  at  our  absence 
would  have  been  no  injury  to  either  of  us. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  63 

But,  to  say  no  more  of  this,  and  to  return  to  the  contest  of 
studies  and  pursuits;  how  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  glory 
of  military  exploits  contributes  more  dignity  to  aid  in  the 
acquisition  of  the  consulship,  than  renown  for  skill  in  civil 
law  ?  Do  you  wake  before  the  night  is  over  in  order  to  give 
answers  to  those  who  consult  you  ?  He  has  done  so  in  order 
to  arrive  betimes  with  his  army  at  the  place  to  which  he  is 
marching.  The  cock-crow  wakens  you,  but  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet  rouses  him ;  you  conduct  an  action  ;  he  is  marshaling 
an  army :  you  take  care  lest  your  clients  should  be  convicted ; 
he  lest  his  cities  or  camp  be  taken.  He  occupies  posts,  and 
exercises  skill  to  repel  the  troops  of  the  enemy,  you  to  keep 
out  the  rain ;  he  is  practiced  in  extending  the  boundaries  of 
the  empire,  you  in  governing  the  present  territories ;  and  in 
short,  for  I  must  say  what  I  think,  pre-eminence  in  military 
skill  excels  all  other  virtues. 

X.  It  is  this  which  has  procured  its  name  for  the  Roman 
people ;  it  is  this  which  has  procured  eternal  glory  for  this 
city ;  it  is  this  which  has  compelled  the  whole  world  to  sub- 
mit to  our  dominion ;  all  domestic  affairs,  all  these  illustrious 
pursuits  of  ours,  and  our  forensic  renown,  and  our  industry, 
are  safe  under  the  guardianship  and  protection  of  military 
valor.  As  soon  as  the  first  suspicion  of  disturbance  is  heard 
of,  in  a  moment  our  arts  have  not  a  word  to  say  for  them- 
selves. 

And  since  you  seem  to  me  to  embrace  that  knowledge  of  the 
law  which  you  have,  as  if  it  were  a  darling  daughter,  I  will 
not  permit  you  to  lie  under  such  a  mistake  as  to  think  that, 
whatever  it  may  be,  which  you  have  so  thoroughly  learned,  any 
thing  very  pre-eminent.  For  your  other  virtues  of  continence, 
of  gravity,  of  justice,  of  good  faith,  and  all  other  good  quali- 
ties, I  have  always  considered  you  very  worthy  of  the  consul- 
ship and  of  all  honor ;  but  as  for  your  having  learned  civil 
law,  I  will  not  say  you  have  wasted  your  pains,  but  I  will  say 
that  there  is  no  way  made  to  lead  to  the  consulship  by  that 
profession ;  for  all  arts  which  can  conciliate  for  us  the  good- 
will of  the  Roman  people  ought  to  possess  both  an  admirable 
dignity,  and  a  very  delightful  utility. 

XI.  The  highest  dignity  is  in  those  men  who  excel  in  mili- 
tary glory.  For  all  things  which  are  in  the  empire  and  in 
the  constitution  of  the  state,  are  supposed  to  be  defended  and 
strengthened  by  them.     There  is  also  the  greatest  usefulness 


£4  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

in  them,  since  it  is  by  their  wisdom  and  their  danger  that  we 
can  enjoy  both  the  republic  and  also  our  own  private  posses- 
sions. The  power  of  eloquence  also  is  no  doubt  valuable  and 
full  of  dignity,  and  it  has  often  been  of  influence  in  the  elec- 
tion of  a  consul  to  be  able  by  wisdom  and  oratory  to  sway  the 
minds  of  the  senate  and  the  people,  and  those  who  decide  on 
affairs.  A  consul  is  required  who  may  be  able  sometimes  to 
repress  the  madness  of  the  tribunes,  who  may  be  able  to  bend 
the  excited  populace,  who  may  resist  corruption.  It  is  not 
strange,  if,  on  account  of  this  faculty,  even  men  who  were  not 
nobly  born  have  often  obtained  the  consulship  ;  especially  when 
this  same  quality  procures  a  man  great  gratitude,  and  the  firm- 
est friendship,  and  the  greatest  zeal  in  his  behalf;  but  of  all 
this  there  is  nothing,  O  Sulpicius,  in  your  profession. 

First  of  all,  what  dignity  can  there  be  in  so  limited  a 
science?  For  they  are  but  small  matters,  conversant  chiefly 
about  single  letters  and  punctuation  between  words.  Second- 
ly, if  in  the  time  of  our  ancestors  there  was  any  inclination  to 
marvel  at  that  study  of  yours,  now  that  all  your  mysteries 
are  revealed,  it  is  wholly  despised  and  disregarded.  At  one 
time  few  men  knew  whether  a  thing  might  be  lawfully  done 
or  not ;  for  men  ordinarily  had  no  records ;  those  were  pos- 
sessed of  great  power  who  were  consulted,  so  that  even  days 
for  consultation  were  begged  of  them  beforehand,  as  from  the 
Chaldean  astrologers.  A  certain  notary  was  found,  by  name 
Cnams  Flavius,  who  could  deceive1  the  most  wary,  and  who 
set  the  people  records  to  be  learned  by  heart  each  day,  and 
who  pilfered  their  own  learning  from  the  profoundest  lawyers. 
So  they,  being  angry  because  they  were  afraid,  lest,  when  their 
daily  course  of  action  was  divulged  and  understood,  people 
would  be  able  to  proceed  by  law  without  their  assistance,  adopt- 
ed  a  sort  of  cipher,  in  order  to  make  their  presence  necessary 
in  every  cause. 

XII.  When  this  might  have  been  well  transacted  thus — 
"The  Sabine  farm  is  mine."  "No;  it  is  mine:"  then  a 
trial ;  they  would  not  have  it  so.  "  The  farm,"  says  he, 
"  which  is  in  the  territory  which  is  called  Sabine  :"  verbose 
enough — well,  what  next1?  "That  farm,  I  say,  is  mine  ac- 
cording to  the  rights  of  Koman  citizens."     What  then  ?   "  and 

1  The  Latin  strictly  is,  "  pierce  the  eyes  of  ravens."  It  ^as  a  prover- 
bial expression. 


FOR  L.  MUREXA. 

therefore  I  summon  you  according  to  law,  seizing  you  by  the 
hand." 

The  man  of  whom  the  field  was  demanded  did  not  know 
how  to  answer  one  who  was  so  talkatively  litigious.  The 
same  lawyer  goes  across,  like  a  Latin  flute-player — says  he, 
"  In  the  place  from  whence  you  summoned  me  having  seized 
me  by  the  hand,  from  thence  I  recall  you  there."  In  the  mean 
time,  as  to  the  prsetor,  lest  he  should  think  himself  a  fine 
fellow  and  a  fortunate  one,  and  himself  say  something  of  his 
own  accord,  a  form  of  words,  is  composed  for  him  also,  absurd 
in  other  points,  and  especially  in  this :  "  Each  of  them  being 
alive  and  being  present,  I  say  that  that  is  the  way."  "Enter 
on  the  way."  That  wise  man  was  at  hand  who  was  to  show 
them  the  way.  "Return  on  your  path."  They  returned 
with  the  same  guide.  These  things,  I  may  well  suppose, 
appeared  ridiculous  to  full-grown  men ;  that  men  when  they 
have  stood  rightly  and  in  their  proper  place  should  be  ordered 
to  depart,  in  order  that  they  might  immediately  return  again 
to  the  place  they  had  left.  Every  thing  was  tainted  with  the 
same  childish  folly.  "When  I  behold  you  in  the  power  of 
the  law."  And  this :  "  But  do  you  say  this  who  claim  the 
right?"  And  while  all  this  was  made  a  mystery  of,  they  who 
had  the  key  to  the  mystery  were  necessarily  sought  after  by 
men ;  but  as  soon  as  these  things  were  revealed,  and  were 
bandied  about  and  sifted  in  men's  hands,  they  were  found  tc 
be  thoroughly  destitute  of  wisdom,  but  very  full  of  fraud  and 
folly. 

For  though  many  things  have  been  excellently  settled  by 
the  laws,  yet  most  of  them  have  been  depraved  and  corrupted 
by  the  genius  of  the  lawyers.  Our  ancestors  determined  that 
all  women,  on  account  of  the  inferiority  of  their  understand- 
ing, should  be  under  the  protection  of  trustees.  These  men 
have  found  out  classes  of  trustees,  whose  power  is  subordinate 
to  that  of  the  women.  The  one  party  did  not  wish  the 
domestic  sacrifices  to  be  abolished  in  families;  by  the  in- 
genuity of  the  others  old  men  were  found  to  marry  by  the 
form  called  coemptio,1  for  the  sake  of  getting  rid 'of  these 

1  Coemptio  was  "  a  ceremony  of  marriage  consisting  in  a  mock  sale, 
•whereby  the  bride  and  bridegroom  sold  themselves  to  each  other."  Rid- 
dle in  voce.  "  Coemptio  was  effected  by  mancipatio,  and  consequently 
the  wife  was  in  mancipio" — Smith,  Diet.  Ant.  p.  603,  §  v.,  v.  Marriage 
(Roman). 


CG  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

sacred  ceremonies.  Lastly,  in  every  part  of  the  civil  law  they 
neglected  equity  itself,  but  adhered  to  the  letter  of  the  law ;  as 
for  instance,  because  in  somebody's  books  they  found  the  name 
of  Caia.  they  thought  that  all  the  women  who  had  married  by 
coemptio  were  called  Caias.  And  that  often  appears  marvel- 
ous to  me,  that  so  many  men  of  such  ability  should  now  for  so 
many  years  have  been  unable  to  decide  whether  the  proper  ex- 
pressions to  use  be  the  day  after  to-morrow  or  the  third  day,  a 
judge  or  an  arbiter,  a  cause  or  a  proceeding. 

Xffl.  Therefore,  as  I  said  before,  the  dignity  of  a  consul 
has  never  been  consistent  with  that  science ;  being  one  con- 
sisting wholly  of  fictitious  and  imaginary  formulas.  And  its 
right  to  public  gratitude  was  even  much  smaller.  For  that 
which  is  open  to  every  one,  and  which  is  equally  accessible  to 
me  and  to  my  adversary,  can  not  be  considered  as  entitled  to 
any  gratitude.  And  therefore  you  have  now  not  only  lost 
the  hope  of  conferring  a  favor,  but  even  the  compliment  that 
used  to  be  paid  to  you  by  men  asking  your  permission  to  con- 
sult you.  No  one  can  be  considered  wise  on  account  of  his 
proficiency  in  that  knowledge  which  is  neither  of  any  use  at 
all  out  of  Rome,  nor  at  Rome  either  during  the  vacations. 
Nor  has  any  one  any  right  to  be  considered  skillful  in  law,  be- 
cause there  can  not  be  any  difference  between  men  in  a  branch 
of  knowledge  with  which  they  are  all  acquainted.  And  a  mat- 
ter is  not  thought  the  more  difficult  for  being  contained  in  a 
very  small  number  of  very  intelligible  documents.  Therefore, 
if  you  excite  my  anger,  though  I  am  excessively  busy,  in  three 
days  I  will  profess  myself  a  laAvyer.  In  truth,  all  that  need  be 
said  about  the  written  law  is  contained  in  written  books ;  nor 
is  there  any  thing  written  with  such  precise  accuracy,  that  I 
can  not  add  to  the  formula,  "  which  is  the  matter  at  present 
in  dispute."  If  you  answer  what  you  ought,  you  will  seem  to 
have  made  the  same  answer  as  Servius  ;  if  you  make  any  other 
reply,  you  will  seem  to  be  acquainted  with  and  to  know  how 
to  handle  disputed  points. 

Wherefore,  not  only  is  the  military  glory  which  you  slight 
to  be  preferred  to  your  formulas  and  legal  pleas ;  but  even  the 
habit  of  speaking  is  far  superior,  as  regards  the  attainment  of 
honors,  to  the  profession  to  the  practice  of  which  you  devote 
yourself.  And  therefore  many  men  appear  to  me  to  have  pre- 
ferred this  :it  first;  but  afterward,  being  unable  to  attain  emi- 
nence in  this  profession,  they  have  descended  to  the  other. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  67 

Just  as  men  say,  when  talking  of  Greek  practitioners,  that 
those  men  are  flute-players  who  can  not  become  harp-players, 
so  we  see  some  men,  who  have  not  been  able  to  make  orators, 
turn  to  the  study  of  the  law.  There  is  great  labor  in  the 
practice  of  oratory.  It  is  an  important  business,  one  of  great 
dignity,  and  of  most  exceeding  influence.  In  truth,  from  you 
lawyers  men  seek  some  degree  of  advantage ;  but  from  those 
who  are  orators  they  seek  actual  safety.  In  the  next  place, 
your  replies  and  your  decisions  are  constantly  overturned  by 
eloquence,  and  can  not  be  made  firm  except  by  the  advocacy 
of  the  orator ;  in  which  if  I  had  made  any  great  proficiency 
myself,  I  should  be  more  sparing  while  speaking  in  its  praise ; 
but  at  present  I  am  saying  nothing  about  myself,  but  only 
about  those  men  who  either  are  or  have  been  great  in  ora- 
tory. 

XIV.  There  are  two  occupations  which  can  place  men  in 
the  highest  rank  of  dignity  ;  one,  that  of  a  general,  the  other, 
that  of  an  accomplished  orator.  For  by  the  latter  the  orna- 
ments of  peace  are  preserved,  by  the  former  the  dangers  of 
war  are  rebelled.  But  the  other  virtues  are  of  great  import- 
ance from  their  own  intrinsic  excellence,  such  as  justice,  good 
faith,  modesty,  temperance ;  and  in  these,  O  Servius,  all  men 
know  that  you  are  very  eminent.  But  at  present  I  am  speak- 
ing of  those  pursuits  calculated  to  aid  men  in  the  attainment 
of  honors,  and  not  about  the  intrinsic  excellency  of  each  pur- 
suit. For  all  those  occupations  are  dashed  out  of  our  hands 
at  once,  the  moment  the  slightest  new  commotion  begins  to 
have  a  warlike  sound.  In  truth,  as  an  ingenious  poet  and  a 
very  admirable  author  says,  the  moment  there  is  a  mention 
of  battle,  "  away  is  driven"  not  only  your  grandiloquent  pre- 
tenses to  prudence,  but  even  that  mistress  of  all  things,  "  wis- 
dom. Every  thing  is  done  by  violence.  The  orator,"  not 
only  he  who  is  troublesome  in  speaking,  and  garrulous,  but 
even  "  the  good  orator  is  despised  ;  the  horrid  soldier  is  loved." 
But  as  for  your  profession,  that  is  trampled  under  foot ;  "  men 
seek  their  rights  not  by  law,  but  hand  to  hand  by  the  sword," 
says  he. 

And  if  that  be  the  case,  then  I  think,  O  Sulpicius,  the  fo- 
rum must  yield  to  the  camp ;  peace  must  yield  to  war,  the 
pen  to  the  sword,  and  the  shade  to  the  sun.  That,  in  fact, 
must  be  the  first  thing  in  the  city,  by  means  of  which  the  city 
itself  is  the  first  of  all  cities.     But  Cato  is  busy  proving  that 


68  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

we  are  making  too  much  of  all  these  things  in  our  speech  ;  and 
that  we  have  forgotten  that  that  Mithridatic  war  was  carried 
on  against  nothing  better  than  women.  However,  my  opin- 
ion is  very  different,  O  judges ;  and  I  will  say  a  little  on  that 
subject ;  for  my  cause  does  not  depend  on  that. 

For  if  all  the  wars  which  we  have  carried  on  against  the 
Greeks  are  to  be  despised,  then  let  the  triumph  of  Marcus  Cu- 
rius  over  king  Pyrrhus  be  derided  ;  and  that  of  Titus  Flamin- 
inus  over  Philip ;  and  that  of  Marcus  Fulvius  over  the  JEto- 
lians ;  and  that  of  Lucius  Paullus  over  king  Perses ;  and  that 
of  Quintus  Metellus  over  the  false  Philip;  and  that  of  Lucius 
Mummius  over  the  Corinthians.  But,  if  all  these  wars  were 
of  the  greatest  importance,  and  if  our  victories  in  them  were 
most  acceptable,  then  why  are  the  Asiatic  nations  and  that 
Asiatic  enemy  despised  by  you  ?  But,  from  our  records  of  an- 
cient deeds,  I  see  that  the  Roman  people  carried  on  a  most  im- 
portant war  with  Antiochus  ;  the  conqueror  in  which  war,  Lu- 
cius Scipio,  who  had  already  gained  great  glory  when  acting 
in  conjunction  with  his  brother  Publius,  assumed  the  same  hon- 
or himself  by  taking  a  surname  from  Asia,  as  his  brother  did, 
who,  having  subdued  Africa,  paraded  his  conquest  by  the  as- 
sumption of  the  name  of  Africanus.  And  in  that  war  the  re- 
nown of  your  ancestor  Marcus  Cato  was  very  conspicuous;  but 
he,  if  he  was,  as  I  make  no  doubt  that  he  was,  a  man  of  the 
same  character  as  I  see  that  you  are,  would  never  have  gone  to 
that  war,  if  he  had  thought  that  it  was  only  going  to  be  a  war 
against  women.  Nor  would  the  senate  have  prevailed  on  Pub- 
lius Africanus  to  go  as  lieutenant  to  his  brother,  when  he  him- 
self, a  little  while  before,  having  forced  Hannibal  out  of  Italy, 
having  driven  him  out  of  Africa,  and  having  crushed  the  pow- 
er of  Carthage,  had  delivered  the  republic  from  the  greatest 
dangers,  if  that  war  had  not  been  considered  an  important  and 
formidable  war. 

XV.  But  if  you  diligently  consider  what  the  power  of 
Mithridates  was,  and  what  his  exploits  were,  and  what  sort  of 
a  man  he  was  himself,  you  will  in  truth  prefer  this  king  to 
all  the  kings  with  whom  the  Roman  people  has  ever  waged 
war;  a  man  whom  Lucius  Sylla — not  a  very  inexperienced 
general,  to  say  the  least  of  it — at  the  head  of  a  numerous  and 
powerful  army,  after  a  severe  battle,  allowed  to  depart  having 
made  peace  with  him,  though  he  had  overrun  all  Asia  with 
war:  whom  Lucius  Murena,  my  client's  father,  after  having 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  69 

warred  against  him  with  the  greatest  vigor  and  vigilance,  left 
greatly  checked  indeed,  but  not  overwhelmed  :  a  king,  who  hav- 
ing taken  several  years  to  perfect  his  system  and  to  strength- 
en his  warlike  resources,  became  so  powerful  and  enterpris- 
ins:  that  he  thought  himself  able  to  unite  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Black  Sea,  and  to  combine  the  forces  of  Sertorius  with  his 
own.  And  when  two  consuls  had  been  sent  to  that  war, 
with  the  view  of  one  pursuing  Mithridates,  and  the  other 
protecting  Bithynia,  the  disasters  which  befell  one  of  them  by 
land  and  sea  greatly  increased  the  power  and  reputation  of 
the  king.  But  the  exploits  of  Lucius  Lucullus  were  such 
that  it  is  impossible  to  mention  any  war  which  was  more  im- 
portant, or  in  which  greater  abilities  and  valor  were  display- 
ed. For  when  the  \iolence  of  the  entire  war  had  broken 
against  the  walls  of  Cyzicus,  and  as  Mithridates  thought  that 
he  should  find  that  city  the  door  of  Asia,  and  that,  if  that 
were  once  broken  down  and  forced,  the  whole  province  would 
be  open  to  him,  every  thing  was  so  managed  by  Lucullus  that 
the  city  of  our  most  faithful  allies  was  defended,  and  all  the 
forces  of  the  king  were  wasted  away  by  the  length  of  the 
siege.  What  more  need  I  say  %  Do  you  think  that  that  na- 
val battle  at  Tenedos,  when  the  enemy's  fleet  were  hastening 
on  with  rapid  course  and  under  most  eager  admirals  toward 
Italy,  full  of  hope  and  courage,  was  a  trifling  engagement  — 
an  insignificant  contest?  I  will  say  nothing  of  battles;  I 
pass  over  the  sieges  of  towns.  Being  at  length  expelled  from 
his  kingdom,  still  his  wisdom  and  his  influence  were  so  great, 
that,  combining  his  forces  with  those  of  the  king  of  Armenia, 
he  reappeared  with  new  armies  and  new  resources  of  every 
kind. 

XVI.  And  if  it  were  my  business  now  to  speak  of  the 
achievements  of  our  army  and  of  our  general,  I  might  men- 
tion many  most  important  battles.  But  that  is  not  the  pres- 
ent question.  This  I  do  say :  If  this  war,  and  this  enemy 
— if  that  king  was  a  proper  object  for  contempt,  the  senate 
and  Roman  people  would  not  have  thought  it  one  to  be  un- 
dertaken with  such  care,  nor  would  they  have  carried  it  on 
for  so  many  years,  nor  would  the  glory  of  Lucullus  be  as 
great  as  it  is.  Nor  would  the  Roman  people  have  intrusted 
the  care  of  putting  a  finishing  stroke  to  it  to  Cnaeus  Pom- 
peius ;  though  of  all  his  battles,  numberless  as  they  are,  that 
appears  to  me  to  have  been  the  most  desperate  and  to  have 


70  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

been  maintained  on  both  sides  with  the  greatest  vigor,  which 
he  fought  against  the  king.  And  when  Mithridates  had  es- 
caped from  that  battle,  and  had  fled  to  the  Bosphorus,  a  place 
which  no  army  could  approach,  still,  even  in  the  extremity  of 
his  fortunes,  and  as  a  fugitive,  he  retained  the  name  of  a 
king.  Therefore,  Pompeius  himself,  having  taken  possession 
of  his  kingdom,  having  driven  the  enemy  away  from  all  his 
coasts,  and  from  all  his  usual  places  of  resort,  still  thought 
that  so  much  depended  on  his  single  life,  that  though,  by  his 
victory,  he  had  got  possession  of  every  thing  which  he  had 
possessed,  or  had  approached,  or  even  had  hoped  for,  still  he 
did  not  think  the  war  entirely  over  till  he  drove  him  from  life 
also.  And  do  you,  O  Cato,  think  lightly  of  this  man  as  an 
enemy,  when  so  many  generals  warred  against  him  for  so 
many  years,  with  so  long  a  series  of  battles'?  when,  though 
driven  out  and  expelled  from  his  kingdom,  his  life  was  still 
thought  of  such  importance,  that  it  was  not  till  the  news 
arrived  of  his  death,  that  we  thought  the  war  over  1  We  then 
say  in  defense  of  Lucius  Murena,  that  as  a  lieutenant  in  this 
war  he  approved  himself  a  man  of  the  greatest  courage,  of 
singular  military  skill,  and  of  the  greatest  perseverance ;  and 
that  all  his  conduct  at  that  time  gave  him  no  less  a  title 
to  obtain  the  consulship  than  this  forensic  industry  of  ours 
gave  us. 

XVII.  "But  in  the  standing  for  the  praetorship,  Servius 
was  elected  first."  Are  you  going  (as  if  you  were  arguing  on 
some  written  bond)  to  contend  with  the  people  that,  whatever 
place  of  honor  they  have  once  given  any  one,  that  same  rank 
they  are  bound  to  give  him  in  all  other  honors'?  For  what 
sea,  what  Euripus  do  you  think  exists,  which  is  liable  to  such 
commotions* — to  such  great  and  various  agitations  of  waves, 
as  the  storms  and  tides  by  which  the  comitia  are  influenced? 
The  interval  of  one  day  —  the  lapse  of  one  night  —  often 
throws  every  thing  into  confusion.  The  slightest  breeze  of 
rumor  sometimes  changes  the  entire  opinions  of  people.  Oft- 
en, even,  every  thing  is  done  without  any  apparent  cause,  in 
a  manner  entirely  at  variance  with  the  opinions  that  have 
been  expressed,  or  that,  indeed,  are  really  entertained ;  so  that 
sometimes  the  people  marvels  that  that  has  been  done  which 
has  been  done,  as  if  it  were  not  itself  that  has  done  it.  No- 
thing is  more  uncertain  than  the  common  people  —  nothing 
more  obscure  than  men's  wishes — nothing  more  treacherous 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  71x 

than  the  whole  nature  of  the  cemitia.  Who  expected  that 
Lucius  Philippus,  a  man  of  the  greatest  abilities,  and  indus- 
try, and  popularity,  and  nobleness  of  birth,  could  be  beaten 
by  Marcus  Herennius?  Who  dreamed  of  Quintus  Catulus,  a 
man  eminent  for  all  the  politer  virtues,  for  wisdom  and  for  in- 
tegrity, being  beaten  by  Cnaeus  Mallius  1  or  Marcus  Scaurus, 
a  man  of  the  highest  character,  an  illustrious  citizen,  a  most 
intrepid  senator,  by  Quintus  Maximus  !  Not  only  none  of  all 
these  things  were  expected  to  happen,  but  not  even  when  they 
had  happened  could  any  one  possibly  make  out  why  they  had 
happened.  For  as  storms  arise,  often  being  heralded  by  some 
well-known  token  in  the  heavens,  but  often  also  quite  unex- 
pectedly from  no  imaginable  reason,  but  from  some  unintelli- 
gible cause ;  so  in  the  popular  tempests  of  the  comitia  you 
may  often  understand  by  what  signs  a  storm  was  first  raised, 
but  often,  too,  the  cause  is  so  obscure,  that  the  tempest  ap- 
pears to  have  been  raised  by  chance. 

XVni.   But  yet,  if  an  account  of  them  must  be  given,  two 
qualities  were  particularly  missed  in  the  praetorship,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  in  Murena  now  was  of  the  greatest  use  to  him 
in  standing  for  the  consulship :  one  was  the  expectation  of  a 
largess,  which  had  got  abroad  through  some  rumor,  and  owing 
to  the  zeal  and  conversation  of  some  of  his  competitors ;  the 
other,  that  those  men  who  had  been  witnesses  of  all  his  liber- 
ality and  virtue  in  the  province  and  in  the  discharge  of  his 
office  as  lieutenant,  had  not  yet  left  Rome.     Fortune  reserved 
each  of  these  advantages  for  him,  to  aid  him  in  his  application 
for  the  consulship.     For  the  army  of  Lucius  Lucullus,  which 
had  come  hither  for  his  triumph,  was  also  present  at  the 
comitia  in  aid  of  Lucius  Murena,  and  his  praetorship  afforded 
a  most  splendid  proof  of  his  liberality,  of  which  there  was 
no  mention  when  he  was  standing  for  the  praetorship.      Do 
these  things  appear  to  you  trifling  supports  and  aids  toward 
obtaining  the  consulship?      Is  the  good-will  of  the  soldiery 
a  trifle?   who  are  both  intrinsically  powerful  through  their 
own  numbers,  and  also  by  their  influence  among  their  con- 
nections, and  who  in  declaring  a  consul  have  great  weight 
among  the  entire  Roman  people.     Are  the  votes  of  the  army 
a  trifle?      No;   for  it  is  generals,  and  not  interpreters   of 
words,  who  are  elected  at  the  consular  comitia.      Most  in- 
fluential, then,  is  such  a  speech  as  this — "  He  refreshed  me 
when  I  was  wounded.     He  gave  me  a  share  of  the  plunder. 


72  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

He  was  the  general  when  we  "took  that  camp — when  we  fought 
that  battle.  He  never  imposed  harder  work  on  the  soldier  than 
he  underwent  himself.  He  was  as  fortunate  as  he  is  brave." 
What  weight  do  you  not  suppose  this  must  have  to  gaining  a 
reputation  and  good-will  among  men  %  Indeed,  if  there  is  a 
sort  of  superstition  in  the  comitia,  that  up  to  this  time  the 
omen  to  be  drawn  from  the  vote  of  the  prerogative1  tribe  has 
always  proved  true,  what  wonder  is  there  that  in  such  a  meet- 
ing the  reputation  of  good  fortune  and  such  discourse  as  this 
has  had  the  greatest  weight  ? 

XIX.  But  if  you  think  these  things  trifling,  though  they  are 
most  important ;  and  if  you  prefer  the  votes  of  these  quiet  cit- 
izens to  those  of  the  soldiers ;  at  all  events,  you  can  not  think 
lightly  of  the  beauty  of  the  games  exhibited  by  this  man,  and 
the  magnificence  of  his  theatrical  spectacles ;  and  these  things 
were  of  great  use  to  him  in  this  last  contest.  For  why  need 
I  tell  you  that  the  people  and  the  great  mass  of  ignorant  men 
are  exceedingly  taken  with  games  %  It  is  not  very  strange. 
And  that  is  a  sufficient  reason  in  this  case  ;  for  the  comitia 
are  the  comitia  of  the  people  and  the  multitude.  If,  then, 
the  magnificence  of  games  is  a  pleasure  to  the  people,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  it  was  of  great  service  to  Lucius  Murena 
with  the  people.  But  if  we  ourselves,  who,  from  our  con- 
stant business,  have  but  little  time  for  amusement,  and  who 
are  able  to  derive  many  pleasures  of  another  sort  from  our 
business  itself,  are  still  pleased  and  interested  by  exhibitions 
of  games,  why  should  you  marvel  at  the  ignorant  multi- 
tude being  so?  Lucius  Otho,2  a  brave  man,  and  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  mine,  restored  not  only  its  dignity,  but  also 
its  pleasure  to  the  equestrian  order ;  and,  therefore,  this  law 
which  relates  to  the  games  is  the  most  acceptable  of  all  laws, 
because  by  it  that  most  honorable  order  of  men  is  restored 
not  only  to  its  honors,  but  also  to  the  enjoyment  of  its  amuse- 
ments. Games,  then,  believe  me,  are  a  great  delight  to  men, 
even  to  those  who  are  ashamed  to  own  it,  and  not  to  those 

1  In  the  comitia  centuriata  the  people  voted  in  their  centuries  ;  the  or- 
der in  which  the  centuries  voted  was  decided  by  lot,  and  that  which  gave 
its  vote  first  was  called  the  ccnturia  prarogativa.  The  question  of  a  tn- 
bus  prarogativa  is  a  more  disputed  point ;  but  on  this  see  Smith,  Diet. 
Ant.  p.  997,  v.  Tribus  (Roman). 

2  This  refers  to  the  law  of  Lucius  Roscius  Otho  (called  Roscia  Lex  by 
Horace),  by  which  the  fourteen  rows  of  seats  next  to  those  of  the  sena- 
4*,rs  were  reserved  for  the  knights. 


FOR  L.  MURENA. 

only  who  confess  it,  as  I  found  to  be  the  case  in  my  contest 
for  the  consulship ;  for  we  also  had  a  theatrical  representa- 
tion as  our  competitor.  But  if  I,  who,  as  aedile,  had  exhibited 
those  shows  of  games,  was  yet  influenced  by  the  games  exhib- 
ited by  Antonius,  do  you  not  suppose  that  that  very  silver 
stage  exhibited  by  this  man,  which  you  laugh  at,  was  a  seri- 
ous rival  to  you,  who,  as  it  happened,  had  never  given  any 
games  at  all?  But,  in  truth,  let  us  allow  that  these  advant- 
ages are  all  equal — let  exertions  displayed  in  the  forum  be  al- 
lowed to  be  equal  to  military  achievements — let  the  votes  of 
the  quiet  citizens  be  granted  to  be  of  equal  weight  with  those 
of  the  soldiers — let  it  be  of  equal  assistance  to  a  man  to  have 
exhibited  the  most  magnificent  games,  and  never  to  have  ex- 
hibited any  at  all ;  what  then  %  Do  you  think  that  in  the 
prsetorship  itself  there  was  no  difference  between  your  lot  and 
that  of  my  client  Murena  ? 

XX.  His  department  was  that  which  we  and  all  your  friends 
desired  for  you  ;  that,  namely,  of  deciding  the  law  ;  a  business 
in  which  the  importance  of  the  business  transacted  procures 
great  credit  for  a  man,  and  the  administration  of  justice  earns 
him  popularity ;  for  which  department  a  wise  praetor,  such  as 
Murena  was,  avoids  giving  offense  by  impartiality  in  his  de- 
cisions, and  conciliates  good  will  by  his  good  temper  in  hear- 
ing the  cases  brought  before  him.     It  is  a  very  creditable  em- 
ployment,  and  very  well  adapted  to  gain  a  man  the  consul- 
ship, being  one  in  which  the  praise  of  justice,  integrity  and 
affability  is  crowned  at  the  last  by  the  pleasure  of  the  games 
which  he  exhibits.     What  department  was  it  that  your  lot 
gave  you  1     A  disagreeable  and  odious  one.     That  of  inquiry 
mto  peculation,  pregnant  on  the  one  side  with  the  tears  and 
mourning  apparel  of -the  accused,  full  on  the  other  side  of  im- 
prisonment   and   informers.      In  that  department   of  justice 
judges  are  forced  to  act  against  their  will,  are  retained  by 
force  contrary  to  their  inclination.     The  clerk  is  hated,  the 
whole  body  is  unpopular.     The  gratifications  given  by  Sylla 
are  found  fault  with.     Many  brave  men — indeed,  a  consider- 
able portion  of  the  city  is   offended;   damages   are   assigned 
with  severity.     The   man  who  is  pleased  with  the  decision 
soon  forgets  it;  he  who  loses  his  cause  is  sure  to  remember 
it.     Lastly,  you  would  not  go  to  your  province.     I  can  not 
find  fault  with  that  resolution  in  you,  which,  both  as  praetor 
and  consul,  I  have  adopted  in  my  own  case.     But  still  Lucius 

D 


74  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Murena's  conduct  in  his  province  procured  him  the  affection 
of  many  influential  men,  and  a  great  accession  of  reputation. 
On  his  road  he  held  a  levy  of  troops  in  Uinbria.  The  re- 
public enabled  him  to  display  his  liberality,  which  he  did  so 
effectually  as  to  engage  in  his  interest  many  tribes  which  are 
connected  with  the  municipalities  of  that  district.  And  in 
Gaul  itself,  he  contrived  by  his  equity  and  diligence  to  enable 
many  of  our  citizens  to  recover  debts  which  they  had  entirely 
despaired  of.  In  the  mean  time  you  were  living  at  Eome, 
ready  to  help  your  friends.  I  confess  that — but  still  recol- 
lect this,  that  the  inclinations  of  some  friends  arc  often 
cooled  toward  those  men  by  whom  they  see  that  provinces 
are  despised. 

XXI.  And  since  I  have  proved,  O  judges,  that  in  this  con- 
test for  the  consulship  Murena  had  the  same  claims  of  worth 
that  Sulpicius  had,  accompanied  with  a  very  different  fortune 
as  respects  the  business  of  their  respective  provinces,  I  will 
say  more  plainly  in  what  particular  my  friend  Servius  was 
inferior ;  and  I  will  say  those  things  while  you  are  now  hear- 
ino;  me — now  that  the  time  of  the  elections  is  over — which  I 
have  often  said  to  him  by  himself  before  the  affair  was  settled. 
I  often  told  you,  O  Servius,  that  you  did  not  know  how  to 
stand  for  the  consulship ;  and,  in  respect  to  those  very  mat- 
ters which  I  saw  you  conducting  and  advocating  in  a  brave 
and  magnanimous  spirit,  I  often  said  to  you  that  you  appear- 
ed to  me  to  be  a  brave  senator  rather  than  a  wise  candidate. 
For,  in  the  first  place,  the  terrors  and  threats  of  accusations 
which  you  were  in  the  habit  of  employing  every  day,  are 
rather  the  part  of  a  fearless  man ;  but  they  have  an  unfavor- 
able effect  on  the  opinion  of  the  people  as  regards  a  man's 
hopes  of  getting  any  thing  from  them,  and  they  even  disarm 
the  zeal  of  his  friends.  Somehow  or  other,  this  is  always  the 
case ;  and  it  has  been  noticed,  not  in  one  or  two  instances 
only,  but  in  many ;  so  that  the  moment  a  candidate  is  seen  to 
turn  his  attention  to  provocations,  he  is  supposed  to  have  given 
up  all  hopes  of  his  election. 

What,  then,  am  I  saying"?  Do  I  mean  that  a  man  is  not 
to  prosecute  another  for  any  injury  which  he  may  have  re- 
<<ived?  Certainly  I  mean  nothing  of  the  sort.  But  the  times 
for  prosecuting  and  for  standing  for  the  consulship  arc  differ- 
ent. I  consider  that  a  candidate  for  any  office,  especially  for 
the  consulship,  ought  to  come  down  into  the  forum  and  into 


FOR  L.  MUREXA.  75 

the  Campus  Martius  with  great  hopes,  with  great  courage,  and 
with  great  resources.  But  I  do  not  like  a  candidate  to  be 
looking  about  for  evidence — conduct  which  is  a  sure  fore- 
runner of  a  repulse.  I  do  not  like  his  being  anxious  to 
marshal  witnesses  rather  than  voters.  I  do  not  fancy  threats 
instead  of  caresses — declamation  Avhere  there  should  be  salu- 
tation ;  especially  as,  according  to  the  new  fashion  now 
existing,  all  candidates  visit  the  houses  of  nearly  all  the 
citizens,  and  from  their  countenances  men  form  their  conjec- 
tures as  to  what  spirits  and  what  probabilities  of  success  each 
candidate  has.  "  Do  you  see  how  gloomy  that  man  looks  ? 
how  dejected  ?  He  is  out  of  spirits ;  he  thinks  he  has  no 
chance;  he  has  laid  down  his  arms."  Then  a  report  gets 
abroad,  "  Do  you  know  that  he  is  thinking  of  a  prosecution  I 
He  is  seeking  for  evidence  against  his  competitors ;  he  is  hunt- 
ing for  witnesses.  I  shall  vote  for  some  one  else,  as  he  knows 
that  he  has  no  chance."  The  most  intimate  friends  of  such 
candidates  as  that  are  dispirited  and  disarmed,  they  abandon 
all  anxiety  in  the  matter — they  give  up  a  business  which  is  so 
manifestly  hopeless,  or  else  they  reserve  all  their  labor  and  in** 
fluence  to  countenance  their  friend  in  the  trial  and  prosecution 
which  he  is  meditating. 

XXn.  And,  besides  all  this,  the  candidate  himself  can  not 
devote  his  whole  thoughts,  and  care,  and  attention,  and  dili- 
gence to  his  own  election  ;  for  he  has  also  in  his  mind  the 
thoughts  of  his  prosecution — a  matter  of  no  small  importance, 
but  in  truth  of  the  very  greatest.  For  it  is  a  very  serious 
business  to  be  preparing  measures  by  which  to  deprive  a  man, 
especially  one  who  is  not  powerless  or  without  resources,  of 
his  rights  as  a  citizen  ;  one  who  is  defended  both  by  himself 
and  by  his  friend — ay,  and  perhaps  also  by  strangers.  For 
we  all  of  us  naturally  hasten  to  save  any  one  from  danger ; 
and,  if  we  are  not  notoriously  enemies  to  them,  we  tender, 
even  to  utter  strangers,  when  menaced  by  danger  affect- 
ing their  station  as  citizens,  the  services  and  zeal  which 
are  strictly  speaking  due  only  to  the  causes  of  our  friends. 
On  which  account  I,  who  know  by  experience  the  troubles 
attending  on  standing  for  office,  on  defending  and  accusing 
prisoners,  consider  that  the  truth  in  respect  of  each  business 
stands  thus — that  in  standing  for  an  office,  eagerness  is  the 
<-]  ef  thing;  in  defending  a  man,  a  regard  for  one's  duty  is 
t       principal  thing  shown ;  in  accusing  a  man,  the  labor  is 


7(3  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

greatest.  And  therefore  I  say  decidedly  that  it  is  quite  im- 
possible for  the  same  man  to  do  justice  properly  to  the  part 
of  an  accuser  and  a  candidate  for  the  consulship.  Few  can 
play  either  part  well ;  no  one  can  do  justice  to  both.  Did 
you,  when  you  turned  aside  out  of  the  course  prescribed  for 
you  as  a  candidate,  and  when  you  had  transferred  your  atten- 
tion to  the  task  of  prosecuting,  think  that  you  could  fulfill 
all  the  requirements  of  both  ?  You  were  greatly  mistaken  if 
you  did  ;  for  what  day  was  there  after  you  once  entered  on 
that  prosecution,  that  you  did  not  devote  the  whole  of  it  to 
that  occupation? 

XXIII.  You  demanded  a  law  about  bribery,  though  there 
was  no  deficiency  of  laws  on  that  matter,  for  there  was  the 
Calpurnian  law,  framed  with  the  greatest  severity.  Your 
inclinations  and  your  wish  procured  compliance  with  your 
demand ;  but  the  whole  of  that  law  might  perhaps  have  armed 
your  accusation,  if  you  had  had  a  guilty  defendant  to  prose- 
cute ;  but  it  has  been  of  great  injury  to  you  as  a  candidate. 
A  more  severe  punishment  for  the  common  people  was  de- 
manded by  your  voice.  The  minds  of  the  lower  orders  were 
agitated.  The  punishment  of  an  exile  was  demanded  in  the 
case  of  any  one  of  our  order  being  convicted.  The  senate 
granted  it  to  your  request ;  but  still  it  was  with  no  good  will 
that  they  established  a  more  severe  condition  for  our  common 
fortunes  at  your  instigation.  Punishment  was  imposed  on 
any  one  who  made  the  excuse  of  illness.  The  inclinations  of 
many  men  were  alienated  by  this  step,  as  by  it  they  were 
forced  either  to  labor  to  the  prejudice  of  their  health,  or  else 
through  the  distress  of  illness  they  were  compelled  to  abandon 
the  other  enjoyments  of  life.  What,  then,  are  we  to  say  of 
this?  Who  passed  this  law?  He  who,  in  so  doing,  acted  in 
obedience  to  the  senate,  and  to  your  wish.  Ho.  in  short, 
passed  it  to  whom  it  was  not  of  the  slightest  r  dvant- 

age.      Do   you    think   that  those  proposals  which 
most  willing  consent,  the  senate  rejected  in  a  very  full  lipase, 
were  but  a  slight  hinderance  to  you?    You  demanded  th 
fusion  of  the  votes  of  all  the  centuries,  the  e  . 
Manilian  law,1  the  equalization  of  all  interest,  aid  dignitj .  and 

1  This  was  not  the  Manilian  law,  in  support  of  which  Ci 
confer  the  command  in  Asia  on  Pompeius  ;  hut  a  law  ena  the 

votes  should  be  counted  without  any  regard  to  the  < 
tho.v  were  given  ;  but  this  law  was  repealed  soon  after  its  en  & 


FOR  L.  MUKENA.  77 

of  all  the  suffrages*  Honorable  men,  men  of  influence  in 
their  neighborhoods  and  municipalities,  were  indignant  that 
such  a  man  should  contend  for  the  abolition  of  all  degrees  in 
dignity  and  popularity.  You  also  wished  to  have  judges  se- 
lected by  the  accuser  at  his  pleasure,  the  effect  of  which  would 
have  been,  that  the  secret  dislikes  of  the  citizens,  which  are  at 
present  confined  to  silent  grumblings,  would  have  broken  out 
in  attacks  on  the  fortunes  of  every  eminent  man.L, 

All  these  measures  were  strengthening  your  hands  as  a 
prosecutor,  but  weakening  your  chance  as  a  candidate.  And 
by  them  all  a  violent  blow  was  struck  at  your  hopes  of  suc- 
cess, as  I  warned  you  ;  and  many  very  severe  things  were  said 
about  it  by  that  most  able  and  most  eloquent  man,  Hortensius, 
owing  to  which  my  task  of  speaking  now  is  the  more  difficult ; 
as,  after  both  he  had  spoken  before  me,  and  also  Marcus  Cras- 
sus,  a  man  of  the  greatest  dignity,  and  industry,  and  skill  as 
an  orator,  I,  coming  in  at  the  end,  was  not  to  plead  some  part 
of  the  cause,  but  to  say  with  respect  to  the  whole  matter  what- 
ever I  thought  advisable.  Therefore  I  am  forced  to  recur  to 
the  same  ideas,  and  to  a  great  extent,  O  judges,  I  have  to  con- 
tend with  a  feeling  of  satiety  on  your  part. 

XXIV.  But  still,  O  Servius,  do  you  not  see  that  you  com- 
pletely lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of  your  chance  as  a  candidate, 
when  you  give  the  Roman  people  cause  for  apprehension  that 
Catiline  might  be  made  consul  through  vour  neglect,  and,  I 
may  almost  say,  abandonment  of  your  canvass,  while  you 
were  intent  on  your  prosecution?  In  truth,  men  saw  that 
you  were  hunting  about  for  evidence ;  that  you  yourself 
looked  gloomy,  your  friends  out  of  spirits ;  they  noticed 
your  visits,  your  inquiries  after  proofs,  your  privy  meetings 
with  your  witnesses,  your  conferences  with  your  junior  coun- 
sel ;  all  which  matters  are  certainly  apt  to  make  the  counte- 
nance of  a  candidate  look  darker.  Meantime  they  saw  Catiline 
cheerful  and  joyous,  accompanied  by  a  band  of  youths,  with 
a  body-guard  of  informers  and  assassins,  elated  by  the  hopes 
which  he  placed  in  the  soldiers,  and,  as  he  himself  said,  by 
the  promises  of  my  colleagues ;  surrounded,  too,  with  a  nu- 
merous body  of  colonists  from  Arretium  and  Fa^sulae — a  crowd 
made  conspicuous  by  the  presence  of  men  of  a  very  different 
sort  in  it,  men  who  had  been  ruined  by  the  disasters  in  the 
time  of  Sylla.  His  own  countenance  was  full  of  fury ;  his 
eyes  glared  with  wickedness ;  his  discourse  breathed  nothing 


78  CICERO  S  ORATIONS. 

but  arrogance.  You  might  have  thought  that  he  had  assured 
himself  of  the  consulship,  and  that  he  had  got  it  locked  up 
at  home.  Murena  he  despised.  Sulpicius  he  considered  as 
his  prosecutor,  not  as  a  competitor.  He  threatened  him  with 
violence  ;  he  threatened  the  republic. 

XXV.  And  I  need  not  remind  you  with  what  terror  all 
good  men  were  seized  in  consequence  of  these  occurrences, 
and  how  entirely  they  would  all  have  despaired  of  the  re- 
public if  he  had  been  made  consul.  All  this  you  yourselves 
recollect ;  for  you  remember,  when  the  expressions  of  that 
wicked  gladiator  got  abroad,  which  he  was  said  to  have  used 
at  a  meeting  at  his  own  house,  when  he  said  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  any  faithful  defender  of  the  miserable  citizens  to 
be  found,  except  a  man  who  was  himself  miserable ;  that  men 
in  an  embarrassed  and  desperate  condition  ought  not  to  trust 
the  promises  of  men  of  a  flourishing  and  fortunate  estate ; 
and  therefore  that  those  who  were  desirous  to  replace  what 
they  had  spent,  and  to  recover  what  they  had  lost,  had  better 
consider  what  he  himself  owed,  what  he  possessed,  and  what 
he  would  dare  to  do ;  that  that  man  ought  to  be  very  fearless 
and  thoroughly  overwhelmed  by  misfortune,  who  was  to  be 
the  leader  and  standard-bearer  of  unfortunate  men.  Then, 
therefore,  when  these  things  had  been  heard,  you  recollect  that 
a  resolution  of  the  senate  was  passed,  on  my  motion,  that  the 
comitia  should  not  be  held  the  next  day,  in  order  that  we 
might  be  able  to  discuss  these  matters  in  the  senate.  Accord- 
ingly, the  next  day,  in  a  full  meeting  of  the  senate,  I  addressed 
Catiline  himself,  and  desired  him,  if  he  could,  to  give  some 
^explanation  of  these  reports  which  had  been  brought  to  me. 
And  he — for  he  was  not  much  addicted  to  disguising  his  in- 
tentions— did  not  attempt  to  clear  himself,  but  openly  avowed 
and  adopted  the  statements.  For  he  said  then,  that  there 
were  two  bodies  of  the  republic — the  one  weak  with  a  weak 
head,  the  other  powerful  without  a  head — and  that,  as  this 
last  had  deserved  well  of  him,  it  should  never  waul  a  head  as 
long  as  he  lived.  The  whole  senate  groaned  at  bearing  itself 
addressed  in  such  language,  and  passed  a  resolution  not  severe 
enough  for  such  unworthy  conduct ;  for  some  of  them  were 
against  too  rigorous  a  resolution,  because  they  bad  no  tear ; 
and  some,  because  they  had  a  great  deal.  Then  he  rushed 
forth  from  the  senate,  triumphing  and  exulting — a  man  who 
never  ought  to  have  been  allowed  to  leave  it  alive,  especially 


FOR  L.  MUREXA.  79 

as  that  very  same  man  in  the  same  place  had  made  answer  to 
Cato,  that  gallant  man  who  was  threatening  him  with  a  pros- 
ecution, a  few  days  before,  that  if  any  fire  were  kindled  against 
his  own  fortunes,  he  would  put  it  out,  not  with  water,  but  by 
the  general  ruin. 

XXVI.  Being  influenced  then  by  these  facts,  and  knowing 
that  men  who  were  already  associated  in  a  conspiracy  were 
being  brought  down  by  Catiline  into  the  Campus  Martius, 
armed  with  swords,  I  myself  descended  into  the  campus  with 
a  guard  of  brave  men,  and  with  that  broad  and  shining  breast- 
plate, not  in  order  to  protect  me  (for  I  knew  that  Catiline 
would  aim  at  my  head  and  neck,  not  at  my  chest  or  body), 
but  in  order  that  all  good  men  might  observe  it,  and,  when 
they  saw  their  consul  in  fear  and  in  danger,  might,  as  they 
did,  throng  together  for  my  assistance  and  protection.  There- 
fore, as,  O  Servius,  men  thought  you  very  remiss  in  prose- 
cuting the  contest,  and  saw  Catiline  inflamed  with  "hope  and 
desire,  all  who  wished  to  repel  that  pest  from  the  republic 
immediately  joined  the  party  of  Murena.  And  in  the  con- 
sular comitia  the  sudden  inclination  of  men's  feelings  is  often 
of  great  weight,  especially  as,  in  this  case,  it  took  the  direction 
of  a  very  gallant  man,  who  was  assisted  by  many  other  con- 
current aids  in  his  application  for  the  office.  He  was  born  of 
a  most  honorable  father  and  ancestors ;  he  had  passed  his 
youth  in  a  most  modest  manner ;  he  had  discharged  the  office 
of  a  lieutenant  with  great  credit ;  he  had  been  praetor,  as  suet 
he  had  been  approved  as  a  judge  ;  he  had  been  popular  through 
his  liberality  ;  he  had  been  highly  honored  in  his  province  ;  he 
had  been  very  diligent  in  his  canvass,  and  had  carried  it  on  so 
as  neither  to  give  way  if  any  one  threatened  him,  nor  to  threat- 
en any  one  himself.  Can  we  wonder  that  the  sudden  hope 
which  Catiline  now  entertained  of  obtaining  the  consulship  was 
a  great  assistance  to  this  man  ! 

The  third  topic  which  I  have  got  to  speak  about  refers  to 
the  charge  of  bribery ;  which  has  been  already  entirely  re- 
futed by  those  who  have  spoken  before  me,  but  which  must 
still  be  discussed  by  me,  since  such  is  the  will  of  Murena. 
And  while  speaking  on  this  point,  I  will  reply  to  what  Pos- 
tumius,  my  own  intimate  friend,  a  most  accomplished  man, 
has  said  about  the  trials  of  agents,  and  about  sums  of  money 
which  he  asserts  have  been  found ;  and  to  what  Servius  Sul- 
picius.  that  able  and  virtuous  young  man,  has  said  about  the 


80  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

centuries  of  the  knights ;  and  to  what  Marcus  Cato,  a  man 
eminent  in  every  kind  of  virtue,  has  said  about  his  own  accu- 
sation, about  the  resolution  of  the  senate,  and  about  the  repub- 
lic in  general. 

XXVII.  But  first  of  all  I  will  say  a  little,  which  has  just 
occurred  to  me,  about  the  hard  fortune  of  Lucius  Murena. 
For  I  have  often  before  now,  O  judges,  judging  both  by  the 
miseries  of  others,  and  by  my  own  daily  cares  and  labors,  con- 
sidered those  men  fortunate,  who,  being  at  a  distance  from  the 
pursuits  of  ambition,  have  addicted  themselves  to  ease  and 
tranquillity  of  life  ;  and  now  especially  I  am  so  affected  by 
these  serious  and  unexpected  dangers  of  Lucius  Murena,  that 
I  am  unable  adequately  to  express  my  pity  for  the  common 
condition  of  all  of  us,  or  for  his  particular  state  and  fortune ; 
who  while,  after  an  uninterrupted  series  of  honors  attained  by 
his  family  and  his  ancestors,  he  was  endeavoring  to  mount  one 
step  higher  in  dignity,  has  incurred  the  danger  of  losing  both 
the  honors  bequeathed  to  him  by  his  forefathers,  and  those  too 
which  have  been  acquitted  by  himself,  and  now,  on  account 
of  his  pursuit  of  this  new  honor,  is  brought  into  the  danger  of 
losing  his  ancient  fortune  also.  And  as  these  are  weighty 
considerations,  O  judges,  so  is  this  the  most  serious  matter  of 
all,  that  he  has  men  for  accusers  who,  instead  of  proceeding 
to  accuse  him  on  account  of  their  private  enmity  against  him, 
have  become  his  personal  enemies,  being  carried  away  by 
their  zeal  for  their  accusation.  For,  to  say  nothing  of  Servi- 
us  Sulpicius,  who,  I  am  aware,  is  influenced  not  by  any  wrong 
done  by  Lucius  Murena,  but  only  by  the  party  spirit  engen- 
dered by  the  contest  for  honor,  his  father's  friend,  Cmeus  Pos- 
tumius,  is  his  accuser,  an  old  neighbor  and  intimate  friend 
of  his  own,  as  he  says  himself;  who  has  mentioned  many  rea- 
sons for  his  intimacy  with  him,  while  he  has  not  been  able  to 
mention  one  for  any  enmity  toward  him.  Servius  Sulpicius 
accuses  him,  the  companion  of  his  son — he,  by  whose  genius 
all  the  friends  of  his  father  ought  to  be  only  the  more  defend- 
ed. Marcus  Cato  accuses  him,  who,  though  he  has  never  been 
in  any  matter  whatever  at  variance  with  Murena,  yet  was  born 
in  this  city  under  such  circumstances  that  his  power  and  gen- 
ius ought  to  be  a  protection  to  many  who  w<  re  even  entire 
strangers  to  him,  and  ought  to  be  the  ruin  of  hardly  any  per- 
sonal enemy. 

In  the  first  instance  then  I  will  reply  to  CWus  Postumius, 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  81 

who,  somehow  or  other,  I  know  not  how,  while  a  candidate 
for  the  praetorship,  appears  to  me  to  be  a  straggler  into  the 
course  marked  out  for  the  candidates  for  the  consulship,  as  the 
horse  of  a  vaulter  might  escape  into  the  course  marked  out 
for  the  chariot  races.  And  if  there  is  no  fault  whatever  to  be 
found  with  his  competitors,  then  he  has  made  a  great  conces- 
sion to  their  worth  in  desisting  from  his  canvass.  But  if  any 
one  of  them  has  committed  bribery,  then  he  must  look  for  some 
friend  who  will  be  more  inclined  to  prosecute  an  injury  done 

to  another  than  one  done  to  himself. 

******* 

XXVIIL  I  come  now  to  Marcus  Cato,  who  is  the  main- 
stay and  prop  of  the  whole  prosecution  ;  who  is,  however,  so 
zealous  and  vehement  a  prosecutor,  that  I  am  much  more 
afraid  of  the  weight  of  his  name,  than  of  his  accusation.  And 
with  respect  to  this  accuser,  O  judges,  first  of  all  I  will  entreat 
you  not  to  let  Cato's  dignity,  nor  your  expectation  of  his 
tribuneship,  nor  the  high  reputation  and  virtue  of  his  whole 
life,  be  any  injury  to  Lucius  Murena.  Let  not  all  the  honors 
of  Marcus  Cato,  which  he  has  acquired  in  order  to  be  able  to 
assist  many  men,  be  an  injury  to  my  client  alone.  Publius 
Africanus  had  been  twice  consul,  and  had  destroyed  those  two 
terrors  of  this  empire,  Carthage  and  Numantia,  when  he  pros- 
ecuted Lucius  Cotta.  He  was  a  man  of  the  most  splendid 
eloquence,  of  the  greatest  good  faith,  of  the  purest  integrity, 
his  authority  was  as  great  almost  as  that  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple itself,  in  that  empire  which  had  been  mainly  saved  by 
his  means.  I  have  often  heard  old  men  say  that  this  very 
extraordinarily  high  character  of  the  accuser  was  of  the 
greatest  service  to  Lucius  Cotta.  Those  wise  men  who  then 
were  the  judges  in  that  cause,  did  not  like  any  one  to  be  de- 
feated in  any  trial,  if  he  was  to  appear  overwhelmed  only  by 
the  excessive  influence  of  his  adversary.  What  more  shall  I 
say  ?  Did  not  the  Roman  people  deliver  Sergius  Galba  (the 
fact  is  preserved  in  the  recollection  of  every  one)  from  your 
grandfather,  that  most  intrepid  and  prosperous  man,  Marcus 
Cato,  who  was  zealously  seeking  his  ruin  ?  At  all  times  in 
this  city  the  whole  people,  and  also  the  judges,  wise  men, 
looking  far  into  futurity,  have  resisted  the  overweening  pow- 
er of  prosecutors.  I  do  not  like  an  accuser  bringing  his 
personal  power,  or  any  predominant  influence,  or  his  own 
eminent  authority,  or  his   own   excessive  popularity,  into  a 

D  2 


v 


82  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

court  of  justice.  Let  all  these  things  have  weight  to  insure 
the  safety  of  the  innocent,  to  aid  the  weak,  to  succor  the  un- 
fortunate. But  in  a  case  where  the  danger  and  ruin  of  citi- 
zens may  ensue,  let  them  be  rejected.  For  if  perchance  any 
one  should  say  that  Cato  would  not  have  come  forward  as  an 
accuser  if  he  had  not  previously  made  up  his  mind  about  the 
justice  of  the  cause,  he  will  then  be  laying  down  a  most  unjust 
law,  O  judges,  and  establishing  a  miserable  condition  for  men 
in  their  danger,  if  he  thinks  that  the  opinion  of  an  accuser  is 
to  have  against  a  defendant  the  weight  of  a  previous  investiga- 
tion legally  conducted. 

XXIX.  I,  O  Cato,  do  not  venture  to  find  fault  with  your 
intentions,  by  reason  of  my  extraordinarily  high  opinion  of 
your  virtue ;  but  in  some  particulars  I  may  perhaps  be  able 
slightly  to  amend  and  reform  them.  "  You  are  not  very 
wrong,"  said  an  aged  tutor  to  a  very  brave  man  ;  "  but  if  you 
are  wrong,  I  can  set  you  right."  But  I  can  say  with  the 
greatest  truth  that  you  never  do  wrong,  and  that  your  conduct 
is  never  such  in  any  point  as  to  need  correction,  but  only  such 
as  occasionally  to  require  being  guided  a  little.  For  nature 
has  herself  formed  you  for  honest}r,  and  gravity,  and  modera- 
tion, and  magnanimity,  and  justice ;  and  for  all  the  virtues 
required  to  make  a  great  and  noble  man.  To  all  these  qual- 
ities are  added  an  education  not  moderate,  nor  mild,  but,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  a  little  harsh  and  severe,  more  so  than  either 
truth  or  nature  would  permit.  And  since  we  are  not  to  ad- 
dress this  speech  either  to  an  ignorant  multitude,  or  to  any 
assembly  of  rustics,  I  will  speak  a  little  boldly  about  the  pur- 
suits of  educated  men,  which  are  both  well  known  and  agree- 
able to  you,  O  judges,  and  to  me.  Learn  then,  O  judges,  that 
all  these  good  qualities,  divine  and  splendid  as  they  are,  which 
we  behold  in  Marcus  Cato,  are  his  own  peculiar  attributes. 
The  qualities  which  we  sometimes  wish  for  in  him,  are  not 
all  those  which  are  implanted  in  a  man  by  nature,  but  some 
of  them  are  such  as  are  derived  from  education.  For  there 
was  once  a  man  of  the  greatest  genius,  whose  name  was  Zeno, 
the  imitators  of  whose  example  are  called  Stoics.  His  opin- 
ions and  precepts  are  of  this  sort:  that  a  wise  man  is  never 
influenced  by  interest ;  never  pardons  any  man's  fault;  that 
no  one  is  merciful  except  a  fool  and  a  trifler ;  that  it  is  not 
the  part  of  a  man  to  be  moved  or  pacified  by  entreaties ;  that 
wise  men,  let  them  be  ever  so  deformed,  are  the  only  beautiful 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  83 

men  ;  if  they  be  ever  such  beggars,  they  are  the  only  rich 
men ;  if  they  be  in  slavery,  they  are  kings.  And  as  for  all 
of  us  who  are  not  wise  men,  they  call  us  runaway  slaves,  ex- 
iles, enemies,  lunatics.  They  say  that  all  offenses  are  equal ; 
that  every  sin  is  an  unpardonable  crime ;  and  that  he  does  not 
commit  a  less  crime  who  kills  a  cock,  if  there  was  no  need  to 
do  so,  than  the  man  who  strangles  his  father.  They  say  that 
a  wise  man  never  feels  uncertain  on  any  point,  never  repents 
of  any  thing,  is  never  deceived  in  any  thing,  and  never  alters 
his  opinion. 

XXX.    All  these  opinions  that  most  acute  man,  Marcus 
Cato,  having  been  induced  by  learned  advocates  of  them,  has 
embraced ;  and  that,  not  for  the  sake  of  arguing  about  them, 
as  is  the  case  with  most  men,  but  of  living  by  them.      Do 
the  Publicans  ask  for  any  thing  1     "  Take  care  that  their  in- 
fluence has  no  weight."     Do  any  suppliants,  miserable  and 
unhappy  men,  come  to  us?     "You  will  be  a  wicked  and  in- 
famous man  if  you  do  any  thing  from  being  influenced   by 
mercy."     Does  any  one  confess  that  he  has  done  wrong,  and 
beg  pardon  for  his  wrong  doing  f     "  To  pardon  is  a  crime  of 
the  deepest  dye."      "  But  it  is  a  trifling  offense."    "  All  offenses 
are  equal."    You  say  something.      "That  is  a  fixed  and  unal- 
terable principle."      "  You  are  influenced  not  by  the  facts,  but 
by  your  opinion."    "  A  wise  man  never  forms  mere  opinions." 
"  You  have  made  a  mistake  in  some  point."     He  thinks  that 
you  are  abusing  him.     And  in  accordance  with  these  prin- 
ciples of  his   are  the  following   assertions:    "I  said  in  the 
senate,  that  I  would  prosecute  one  of  the  candidates  for  the 
consulship."    "  You  said  that  when  you  were  angry."    "  A  wise 
man  never  is  angry."      "  But  you  said  it  for  some  temporary 
purpose."     "  It  is  the  act,"  says  he,  "  of  a  worthless  man  to 
deceive  by  a  lie ;  it  is  a  disgraceful  act  to  alter  one's  opinion ; 
to  be  moved  by  entreaties  is  wickedness ;  to  pity  any  one  is  an 
enormity."     But  our  philosophers  (for  I  confess,  O  Cato,  that 
I   too,    in  my  youth,   distrusting    my   own    abilities,   sought 
assistance  from  learning),  our  philosophers,  I  say,  men  of  the 
school  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  men  of  soberness  and  modera- 
tion,  say  that   private  interest  does  sometimes  have  weight 
even  with  a  wise  man.   They  say  that  it  does  become  a  virtuous 
man  to  feel  pity;  that  there  are  different  gradations  of  offenses, 
and   different  degrees    of  punishment   appropriate    to    each; 
that  a  man  with  every  proper  regard  for  firmness  may  pardon 


84  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

offenses  ;  that  even  the  wise  man  himself  has  sometimes  nothing 
more  than  opinion  to  go  upon,  without  absolute  certainty  ;  that 
he  is  sometimes  angry ;  that  he  is  sometimes  influenced  and 
pacified  by  entreaty ;  that  he  sometimes  does  change  an  opin- 
ion which  he  may  have  expressed,  when  it  is  better  to  do  so; 
that  he  sometimes  abandons  his  previous  opinions  altogether ; 
and  that  all  his  virtues  are  tempered  by  a  certain  moderation. 
XXXI.  If  any  chance,  O  Cato,  had  conducted,  endowed 
with  your  existing  natural  disposition,  to  those  tutors,  you 
would  not  indeed  have  been  a  better  man  than  you  are,  nor  a 
braver  one,  nor  more  temperate,  nor  more  just  than  you  are 
(for  that  is  not  possible),  but  you  would  have  been  a  little  more 
inclined  to  lenity  ;  you  would  not,  when  you  were  not  induced 
by  any  enmity,  or  provoked  by  any  personal  injur}',  accuse  a 
most  virtuous  man,  a  man  of  the  highest  rank  and  the  great- 
est integrity ;  you  would  consider  that  as  fortune  had  intrust- 
ed the  guardianship  of  the  same  year  to  you1  and  to  Murena, 
that  you  were  connected  with  him  by  some  certain  political 
union ;  and  the  severe  things  which  you  have  said  in  the  sen- 
ate you  would  either  not  have  said,  or  you  would  have  guarded 
against  their  being  applied  to  him,  or  you  would  have  inter- 
preted them  in  the  mildest  sense.  And  even  you  yourself  (at 
least  that  is  my  opinion  and  expectation),  excited  as  you  are 
at  present  by  the  impetuosity  of  your  disposition,  and  elated 
as  you  are  both  by  the  vigor  of  your  natural  character  and  by 
your  confidence  in  your  own  ability,  and  inflamed  as  you  are 
by  your  recent  study  of  all  these  precepts,  will  find  jiractice 
modify  them,  and  time  and  increasing  years  soften  and  hu- 
manize you.  In  truth,  those  tutors  and  teachers  of  virtue, 
whom  you  think  so  much  of,  appear  to  me  themselves  to  have 
carried  their  definitions  of  duties  somewhat  further  than  is 
agreeable  to  nature ;  and  it  would  be  better  if,  when  we  had 
in  theory  pushed  our  principles  to  extremities,  yet  in  practice 
we  stopped  at  what  was  expedient.  "  Forgive  nothing."  Say 
rather,  forgive  some  things,  but  not  every  thing.  "  Do  nothing 
for  the  sake  of  private  influence."  Certainly  resist  private  in- 
fluence when  virtue  and  good  faith  require  you  to  do  so.  "  Do 
not  be  moved  by  pity."  Certainly  if  it  is  to  extinguish  all  im- 
partiality; nevertheless,  there  is  some  credit  due  to  humanity. 
"  Abide  by  your  own  opinion."  Wry  true,  unless  some  other 
sounder  opinion  convinces  you.     That  great  Scipio  was  a  mac 

1  Cato  was  tribune  elect. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  85 

of  this  sort,  who  had  no  objection  to  do  the  same  thing  that 
you  do  ;  to  keep  a  most  learned  man,  a  man  of  almost  divine 
wisdom,  in  his  house ;  by  whose  conversation  and  precepts, 
although  they  were  the  very  same  that  you  are  so  fond  of,  he 
was  nevertheless  not  made  more  severe,  but  (as  I  have  heard 
said  by  old  men)  he  was  rendered  most  merciful.  And  who 
was  more  mild  in  his  manners  than  Caius  Laslius?  who  was 
more  agreeable  than  he  1  (devoted  to  the  same  studies  as  you)  ; 
who  was  more  virtuous  or  more  wise  than  he*?  I  might  say  the 
same  of  Lucius  Philus,  and  of  Caius  Gallus ;  but  I  will  conduct 
you  now  into  your  own  house.  Do  you  think  that  there  was 
any  man  more  courteous,  more  agreeable  ;  any  one  whose  con- 
duct was  more  completely  regulated  by  every  principle  of  virtue 
and  politeness,  than  Cato,  your  great-grandfather'?  And  when 
you  were  speaking  with  truth  and  dignity  of  his  virtue,  you 
said  that  you  had  a  domestic  example  to  imitate.  That  indeed 
is  an  example  set  up  for  your  imitation  in  your  own  family ; 
and  the  similarity  of  nature  ought  rather  to  influence  you  who 
are  descended  from  him  than  any  one  of  us ;  but  still  that  ex- 
ample is  as  much  an  object  for  my  imitation  as  for  yours.  But 
if  you  were  to  add  his  courtesy  and  affability  to  your  own  wis- 
dom and  impartiality,  I  will  not  say  that  those  qualities  whkh 
are  now  most  excellent  will  be  made  intrinsically  better,  but 
they  will  certainly  be  more  agreeably  seasoned. 

XXXII.  Wherefore,  to  return  to  the  subject  which  I  began 
to  speak  of,  take  away  the  name  of  Cato  out  of  the  cause ; 
remove  and  leave  out  of  the  question  all  mention  of  authority, 
which  in  courts  of  justice  ought  either  to  have  no  influence  at 
all,  or  only  influence  to  contribute  to  some  one's  safety ;  and 
discuss  with  me  the  charges  themselves.  What  do  you  accuse 
him  of,  Cato  ?  AVhat  action  of  his  is  it  that  you  bring  before 
the  court  1  What  is  your  charge  I  Do  you  accuse  him  of 
bribery?  I  do  not  defend  bribery.  You  blame  me  because 
you  say  I  am  defending  the  very  conduct  which  I  brought  in  a 
law  to  punish.  I  punished  bribery,  not  innocence.  And  any 
real  case  of  bribery  I  will  join  you  in  prosecuting  if  you  please. 
You  have  said  that  a  resolution  of  the  senate  was  passed,  on 
my  motion,  "  that  if  any  men  who  had  been  bribed  had  gone 
to  meet  the  candidates,  if  any  hired  men  followed  them,  if 
places  were  given  men  to  see  the  shows  cf  gladiators  according 
to  their  tribes,  and  also,  if  dinners  were  given  to  the  common 
people,  that  appeared  to  be  a  violation  of  the  Calpurnian  law." 


80  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Therefore  the  senate  decides  that  these  things  wefre  clone  in 
violation  of  the  Calpurnian  law  if  they  were  done  at  all ;  it 
decides  what  there  is  not  the  least  occasion  for,  out  of  com- 
plaisance for  the  candidates.  For  there  is  a  great  question 
whether  such  things  have  been  done  or  not.  That,  if  they  have 
been  done,  they  were  done  in  violation  of  the  law,  no  one  can 
doubt.  It  is,  therefore,  ridiculous  to  leave  that  uncertain  which 
was  doubtful,  but  to  give  a  positive  decision  on  that  point 
which  can  be  doubtful  to  no  one.  And  that  decree  is  passed 
at  the  request  of  all  the  candidates ;  in  order  that  it  might  be 
quite  impossible  to  make  out  from  the  resolution  of  the  senate 
whose  interests  were  consulted,  or  against  whose  interests  it 
was  passed.  Prove,  then,  that  these  actions  have  been  done 
by  Lucius  Murena;  and  then  I  will  grant  to  you  that  they 
have  been  done  in  violation  of  the  law. 

XXXIII.  "  Many  men  went  to  meet  nim  as  he  was  depart- 
ing from  his  province,  when  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  con- 
sulship." That  is  a  very  usual  thing  to  do.  Who  is  there 
whom  people  do  not  go  out  to  meet  on  his  return  home? 
"  What  a  number  of  people  they  were."  In  the  first  place,  if 
I  am  not  able  to  give  you  any  exact  account  of  it,  what  won- 
der is  it  if  many  men  did  go  out  to  meet  such  a  man  on  his 
arrival,  being  a  candidate  for  the  consulship1?  If  they  had 
not  done  so,  it  would  have  appeared  much  more  strange. 
What  then  ?  Suppose  I  were  even  to  add,  what  there  would 
be  nothing  unusual  in,  that  many  had  been  asked  to  go1? 
Would  that  be  matter  of  accusation,  or  at  all  strange,  that,  in 
a  city  in  which  we,  when  we  are  asked,  often  come  to  escort 
the  sons  of  even  the  lowest  rank,  almost  before  the  night  is 
t>ver,  from  the  farthest  part  of  the  city,  men  should  not  mind 
going  at  the  third  hour  into  the  Campus  Martius,  especially 
when  they  have  been  invited  in  the  name  of  such  a  man  as 
Murena  ?  What  then  ?  What  if  all  the  societies  had  come 
to  meet  him,  of  which  bodies  many  are  sitting  here  as  judges"? 
What  if  many  men  of  our  own  most  honorable  order  had 
come?  What  then?  What  if  the  whole  of  that  most  oih- 
cious  body  of  candidates,  which  will  not  sutler  any  man  to  en- 
ter the  city  except  in  an  honorable  manner,  had  come,  or  even 
our  prosecutor  himself — if  Postumius  had  come  to  meet  him 
with  a  numerous  crowd  of  his  dependents  1  What  is  there 
strange  in  such  a  multitude  ?  1  say  nothing  of  his  clients,  his 
neighbors,  his  tribesmen,  or  the  whole  army  of  Lucullus,  which, 
just  at  that  time,  had  come  to  Home  to  his  triumph;  I  say 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  87 

this,  >hat  that  crowd,  paying  that  gratuitous  mark  of  respect, 
was  never  backward  in  paying  respect  not  only  to  the  merit 
of  any  one,  but  even  to  his  wishes. 

"But  a  great  many  people  followed  him."  Prove  that  it 
was  for  hire,  and  I  will  admit  that  that  was  a  crime :  but  if 
the  fact  of  hire  be  absent,  what  is  there  that  you  object  to  1 

XXX1Y.   "What  need  is  there,"  says  he,  "of  an  escort?" 
Are  you  asking  me  what  is  the  need  of  that  which  we  have 
always  availed  ourselves  of?     Men  of  the  lower  orders  have 
only  one  opportunity  of  deserving  kindness  at  the  hands  of 
our  order,  or  of  requiting  services — namely,  this  one  atten- 
tion of  escorting  us  when  we  are  candidates  for  offices.     For 
it  is  neither  possible,  nor  ought  we  or  the  Eoman  knights  to 
require   them   to    escort   the    candidates   to   whom   they   are 
attached  for  whole  days  together ;   but  if  our  house  is  fre- 
quented by  them,  if  we  are  sometimes  escorted  to  the  forum, 
if  we  are  honored  by  their  attendance  for  the  distance  of  one 
piazza,  we  then  appear  to  be  treated  with  all  due  observance 
and  respect ;  and  those  are  the  attentions  of  our  poorer  friends 
who  are  not  hindered  by  business,  of  whom  numbers  are  not 
wont  to  desert  virtuous  and  beneficent  men.     Do  not  then, 
O  Cato,  deprive  the  lower  class  of  men  of  this  power  of  show- 
ing their  dutiful  feelings ;    allow  these   men,  who   hope  for 
every  thing  from  us,  to  have  something  also  themselves,  which 
they  may  be  able  to  give  us.     If  they  have  nothing  beyond 
their  own  vote,  that  is  but  little ;  since  they  have  no  interest 
'vhich  they  can  exert  in  the  votes  of  others.     They  themselves, 
as  they  are  accustomed  to  say,  can  not  plead  for  us,  can  not 
JX,o  bail  for  us,  can  not  invite  us  to  their  houses ;   but  they 
isk  all  these  things  of  us,  and  do  not  think  that  they  can 
^equite  the  services  which  they  receive  from  us  by  any  thing 
but  by  their  attentions  of  this  sort.     Therefore  they  resisted 
the  Fabian  law,  which  regulated  the  number  of  an  escort,  and 
the  resolution  of  the  senate,  which  was  passed  in  the  consul- 
ship of  Lucius  Caesar.     For  there  is  no  punishment  which 
can  prevent  the  regard  shown  by  the  poorer  classes  for  this 
description  of  attention.     "  But  spectacles  were  exhibited  to 
the  people  by  their  tribes,  and  crowds  of  the  common  peo- 
ple were  invited  to  dinner."     Although  this,  O  judges,  was 
not  done  by  Murena  at  all,  but  done  in  accordance  with  all 
usage  and  precedent  by  his  friends,  still,  being  reminded  of 
the  fact,  I  recollect  how  many  votes  these  investigations  held 
in  the  senate  have  lost  us,  O  Servius.     For  what  time  was 


88  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

there  ever,  eitner  within  our  own  recollection  or  that  of  our 
fathers,  in  which  this,  whether  you  call  it  ambition  or  liberal- 
ity, did  not  exist,  to  the  extent  of  giving  a  place  in  the  circus 
and  in  the  forum  to  one's  friends,  and  to  the  men  of  one's  own 
tribe?  The  men  of  the  poorer  classes  first,  who  had  not  yet 
obtained  from  those  of  their  own  tribe 

XXXV.  *     *     *     that  the  prelect  of  the  carpenters1  once 
gave  a  place  to  the  men  of  his  own  tribe.    What  will  they  de- 
cide with  respect  to  the  eminent  men  who  have  erected  reg- 
ular stalls  in  the  circus,  for  the  sake  of  their  own  tribesmen  ? 
All    these    charges    of  escort,  of  spectacles,    of  dinners,    are 
brought  forward  by  the  multitude,   O  Servius,  as  proofs  of 
your  over-scrupulous  diligence ;  but  still  as  to  those  counts  of 
the  indictment,  Murena  is  defended  by  the  authority  of  the 
senate.     And  why  not  ?     Does  the  senate  think  it  a  crime  to 
go  to  meet  a  man  I    No ;  but  it  does,  if  it  be  done  for  a  bribe. 
Prove  that  it  was  so.     Does  the  senate  think  it  a  crime  for 
many  men   to  follow  him  ?      No ;  but  it  does,  if  they  were 
hired.     Prove  it.     Or  to  give  a  man  a  place  to  see  the  spec- 
tacles? or  to  ask  a  man  to  dinner?     Not  by  any  means;  but 
to  give  every  one  a  seat,  to  ask  every  one  one  meets  to  dinner. 
"  What  is  every  one  I"    Why,  the  whole  body  of  citizens.    If, 
then,  Lucius  Natta,  a  young  man  of  the  highest  rank,  as  to 
whom  we  see  already  of  what  sort  of  disposition  he  is,  and 
what  sort  of  man  he  is  likely  to  turn  out,  wished  to  be  pop- 
ular among  the  centuries  of  the  knights,  both  because  of  his 
natural  connection  with  them,  and  because  of  his  intentions  as 
to  the  future,  that  will  not  be  a  crime  in,  or  matter  of  accusa- 
tion against  his  step-father ;  nor,  if  a  vestal  virgin,  my  client'* 
near  relation,  gave  up  her  place  to  see  the  spectacle  in  his 
favor,  was  that  any  other  than  a  pious  action,  nor  is  he  liable 
to  any  charge  on  that  ground.     All  these  are  the  kind  offices 
of  intimate  friends,  the  services  done  to  the  poorer  classes,  the 
regular  privileges  of  candidates. 

But  I  must  change  my  tone ;   for  Cato  argues  witli  me  on 

rigid  and  stoic  principles.     He  says  that  it  is  not  true  that 

good-will  is  conciliated  by  food.      He  says  that  men's  judg- 

1  Besides  the  classes  into  which  the  centuries  were  divided,  and  the 
four  supernumerary  centuries  of  accensi,  velati,  proletarii,  ami  cajnte  censi, 
there  were  three  centuries  classed  according  to  their  occupation.  The 
fabri,  or  carpenters,  who  were  attached  to  the  centuries  of  the  first  class  ; 
the  n/rniniics,  or  horn-blowers,  an^-  li'icincs,  or  trumpeters,  who  were 
reckoned  with  the  fourth  class. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  89 

ments,  in  the  important  business  of  electing  to  magistracies, 
ought  not  to  be  corrupted  by  pleasures.  Therefore,  if  any  one, 
to  promote  his  canvass,  invites  another  to  supper,  he  must  be 
condemned.  "  Shall  you,"  says  he,  "  seek  to  obtain  supreme 
power,  supreme  authority,  and  the  helm  of  the  republic,  by 
encouraging  men's  sensual  appetites,  by  soothing  their  minds, 
by  tendering  luxuries  to  them  ?  Are  you  asking  employment 
as  a  pimp  from  a  band  of  luxurious  youths,  or  the  sovereignty 
of  the  world  from  the  Roman  people  ?"  An  extraordinary  sort 
of  speech !  but  our  usages,  our  way  of  living,  our  manners,  and 
the  constitution  itself,  rejects  it.  For  the  Lacedaemonians,  the 
original  authors  of  that  way  of  living  and  of  that  sort  of  lan- 
guage, men  who  lie  at  their  daily  meals  on  hard  oak  benches, 
and  the  Cretans,  of  whom  no  one  ever  lies  down  to  eat  at  all, 
have  neither  of  them  preserved  their  political  constitutions  or 
their  power  better  than  the  Romans,  who  set  apart  times  for 
pleasure  as  well  as  times  for  labor ;  for  one  of  those  nations 
wras  destroyed  by  a  single  invasion  of  our  army,  the  other  only 
preserves  its  discipline  and  its  laws  by  means  of  the  protection 
afforded  to  it  by  our  supremacy. 

XXXYI.  Do  not,  then,  O  Cato,  blame  with  too  great  se- 
verity of  language  the  principles  of  our  ancestors,  which  facts, 
and  the  length  of  time  that  our  power  has  flourished  under 
them,  justify.  There  was,  in  the  time  of  our  ancestors,  a 
learned  man  of  the  same  sect,  an  honorable  citizen,  and  one 
of  high  rank,  Quintus  Tubero.  He,  when  Quintus  Maximus 
was  giving  a  feast  to  the  Roman  people,  in  the  name  of  his 
uncle  Africanus,  was  asked  by  Maximus  to  prepare  a  couch 
for  the  banquet,  as  Tubero  was  a  son  of  the  sister  of  the  same 
Africanus.  And  he,  a  most  learned  man  and  a  Stoic,  covered 
for  that  occasion  some  couches  made  in  the  Carthaginian 
fashion,  with  skins  of  kids,  and  exhibited  some  Samian1  ves- 
sels, as  if  Diogenes  the  Cynic  had  been  dead,  and  not  as  if  he 
were  paying  respect  to  the  obsequies  of  that  godlike  Afri- 
canus ;  a  man  with  respect  to  whom  Maximus,  when  he  was 
pronouncing  his  funeral  panegyric  on  the  day  of  his  death, 
expressed  his  gratitude  to  the  immortal  gods  for  having 
caused  that  man  to  be  born  in  this  republic  above  all  others, 
for  that  it  was  quite  inevitable  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
w^orld  must  belong  to  that  state  of  which  he  was  a  citizen. 

1  Samian  vessels  were  made  of  an  inferior  earthen-ware  ;  Carthaginian 
couches  were  very  low  and  narrow. 


90  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

At  the  celebration  of  the  obsequies  of  such  a  man  the  Roman 
people  was  very  indignant  at  the  perverse  wisdom  of  Tubero, 
and  therefore  he,  a  most  upright  man,  a  most  virtuous  citizen, 
though  he  was  the  grandson  of  Lucius  Paullus,  the  sister's  son, 
as  I  have  said  before,  of  Publius  Africanus,  lost  the  prastorship 
by  his  kid-skins. 

The  Roman  people  disapproves  of  private  luxury,  but  ad- 
mires public  magnificence.     It  does  not  love  profuse  banquets, 
still  less  does  it   love   sordid   and   uncivilized   behavior.      It 
makes  a  proper  distinction  between  different  duties  and  dif- 
ferent seasons,  and  allows  of  vicissitudes  of  labor  and  pleas- 
ure.     For  as  to  what  you  say,  that  it  is  not  right  for  men'* 
minds  to  be  influenced,  in  appointing  magistrates,  by  any  oth- 
er consideration  than  that  of  the  worth  of  the  candidates,  this 
principle  even  you  yourself — you,  a  man  of  the  greatest  worth 
— do  not  in  every  case  adhere  to.     For  why  do  you  ask  any 
one  to  take  pains  for  you,  to  assist  you  ?     You  ask  me  to  make 
you  governor  over  myself,  to  intrust  myself  to  you.     What 
is  the  meaning  of  this  °?     Ought  I  to  be  asked  this  by  you,  or 
should  not  you  rather  be  asked  by  me  to  undertake  labor  and 
danger  for  the  sake  of  my  safety  ?     Nay  more,  why  is  it  that 
you  have  a  nomenclator1  with  you  ?  for  in  so  doing,  you  are 
practicing  a  trick  and  a  deceit.     For  if  it  be  an  honorable 
thing  for  your  fellow-citizens  to  be  addressed  by  name  by  you, 
it  is  a  shameful  thing  for  them  to  be  better  known  to  your 
servant  than  to  yourself.     If,  though  you  know  them  your- 
self, it  seems  better  to  use  a  prompter,  why  do  you  sometimes 
address  them  before  he  has  whispered  their  names  in  your  ear  ? 
Why,  again,  when  he  has  reminded  you  of  them,  do  you  sa- 
lute them  as  if  you  knew  them  yourself?     And  why,  after 
you  are  once  elected,  are  you  more  careless  about  saluting 
them  at  all  1     If  you  regulate  all  these  things  by  the  usages 
of  the  city,  it  is  all  right ;  but  if  you  choose  to  weigh  them 
by  the  precepts  of  your  sect,  they  will  be  found  to  be  entirely 
wrong.     Those  enjoyments,  then,  of  games,  and  gladiators,  and 
banquets,  all  which  our  ancestors  desired,  are  not  to  be  taken 
away  from  the  Roman  people,  nor  ought  candidates  to  be  for- 
bidden the  exercise  of  that  kindness  which  is  liberality  rather 
than  bribery. 

1  The  nomenclator  was  a  slave  who  accompanied  the  candidate  in  going 
his  rounds,  and  told  him  the  name  of  every  one  he  met,  so  that  ho  might 
be  able  to  accost  them  as  if  they  were  personally  known  to  himself. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  91 

XXXYTL  Oh,  but  it  is  the  interest  of  the  republic  that  has 
induced  you  to  become  a  prosecutor.  I  do  believe,  O  Cato, 
that  jou  have  come  forward  under  the  influence  of  those  feel- 
ings and  of  that  opinion.  But  you  err  out  of  ignorance.  That 
which  I  am  doing,  O  judges,  I  am  doing  out  of  regard  to  my 
friendship  for  Lucius  Murena  and  to  his  own  worth,  and  I 
also  do  assert  and  call  you  all  to  witness  that  I  am  doing  it 
for  the  sake  of  peace,  of  tranquillity,  of  concord,  of  liberty,  of 
safety — ay,  even  for  the  sake  of  the  lives  of  us  all.  Listen,  O 
judges,  listen  to  the  consul — I  will  not  speak  with  undue  ar- 
rogance, I  will  only  say,  who  devotes  all  his  thoughts  day  and 
night  to  the  republic.  Lucius  Catiline  did  not  despise  and 
scorn  the  republic  to  such  a  degree  as  to  think  that  with  the 
forces  which  he  took  away  with  him  he  could  subdue  this  city. 
The  contagion  of  that  wickedness  spreads  more  widely  than 
any  one  believes :  more  men  are  implicated  in  it  than  people 
are  aware  of.  It  is  within  the  city — the  Trojan  horse,  I  say, 
is  within  the  city ;  but  you  shall  never  be  surprised  sleeping 
by  that  while  I  am  consul.  You  ask  of  me  why  I  am  afraid 
of  Catiline  %  I  am  not ;  and  I  have  taken  care  that  no  one 
should  have  any  reason  to  be  afraid  of  him  ;  but  I  do  say  that 
those  soldiers  of  his,  whom  I  see  present  here,  are  objects  of 
fear :  nor  is  the  army  which  Lucius  Catiline  now  has  with 
him  as  formidable  as  those  men  are  who  are  said  to  have  de- 
serted that  army  ;  for  they  have  not  deserted  it,  but  they  have 
been  left  by  him  as  spies,  as  men  placed  in  ambuscade,  to 
threaten  our  lives  and  liberties.  Those  men  are  very  anxious 
that  an  upright  consul  and  an  able  general,  a  man  connected 
both  by  nature  and  by  fortune  with  the  safety  of  the  republic, 
should  by  your  decision  be  removed  from  the  office  of  protect- 
ing the  city,  from  the  guardianship  of  the  state.  Their  swords 
and  their  audacity  I  have  procured  the  rejection  of  in  the 
campus,  I  have  disarmed  them  in  the  forum,  I  have  often 
checked  them  at  my  own  house  ;  but  if  you  now  give  them  up 
one  of  the  consuls,  they  will  have  gained  much  more  by  your 
votes  than  by  their  own  swords.  That  which  I,  in  spite  of 
the  resistance  of  many,  have  managed  and  carried  through, 
namely,  that  on  the  first  of  January  there  should  be  two  con- 
suls in  the  republic,  is  of  great  consequence,  O  judges.  Never 
believe  that  by  consuls  of  moderate  abilities,  or  by  the  ordina- 
ry modes  of  proceeding 

******* 


92  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

It  is  not  some  unjust  law,  some  mischievous  bribery,  or  some 
improprieties  in  the  republic  that  have  just  been  heard  of, 
that  are  the  real  objects  for  your  inquiry  now.  Plans  have 
been  formed  in  this  state,  O  judges,  for  destroying  the  city, 
for  massacring  the  citizens,  for  extinguishing  the  Roman  name. 
They  are  citizens — citizens,  I  say  (if  indeed  it  is  lawful  to  call 
them  by  this  name),  who  are  forming  and  have  formed  these 
plans  respecting  their  own  country.  Every  day  I  am  counter- 
acting their  designs,  disarming  their  audacity,  resisting  their 
wickedness.  But  I  warn  you,  O  judges  ;  my  consulship  is  now 
just  at  an  end.  Do  not  refuse  me  a  successor  in  my  diligence  ; 
do  not  refuse  me  him,  to  whom  I  am  anxious  to  deliver  over 
the  republic  in  a  sound  condition,  that  he  may  defend  it  from 
these  great  dangers. 

XXXVIII.  And  do  you  not  see,  O  judges,  what  other  evil 
there  is  added  to  these  evils  ?  I  am  addressing  you — you,  O 
Cato.  Do  you  not  foresee  a  storm  in  your  year  of  office  1  for 
in  yesterday's  assembly  there  thundered  out  the  mischievous 
voice  of  a  tribune1  elect,  one  of  your  own  colleagues ;  against 
whom  your  own  mind  took  many  precautions,  and  so  too  did 
all  good  men,  when  they  invited  you  to  stand  for  the  tribune-, 
ship.  Every  thing  which  has  been  plotted  'for  the  last  three 
years,  from  the  time  when  you  know  that  the  design  of  mas- 
sacring the  senate  was  first  formed  by  Lucius  Catiline  and 
by  Cnaeus  Piso,  is  now  breaking  out  on  these  days,  in  these 
months,  at  this  time.  What  place  is  there,  O  judges,  what 
time,  what  day,  what  night  is  there,  that  I  have  not  been  de- 
livered and  escaped  from  their  plots  and  attacks,  not  only  by 
my  own  prudence,  but  much  more  by  the  providence  of  the 
gods?  It  was  not  that  they  wished  to  slay  me  as  an  indi- 
vidual, but  that  they  wished  to  get  rid  of  a  vigilant  consul, 
and  to  remove  him  from  the  guardianship  of  the  republic  ;  and 
they  would  be  just  as  glad,  O  Cato,  to  remove  you  too,  if  they 
could  by  any  means  contrive  to  do  so ;  and  believe  me,  that  is 
what  they  are  wishing  and  planning  to  do.  They  see  lion- 
much  courage,  how  much  ability,  how  much  authority,  how 
much  protection  for  the  republic  there  is  in  you  ;  but  they 
think  that,  when  they  have  once  seen  the  power  of  the  tribunes 
stripped  of  the  support  which  it  derives  from  the  authority  and 

1  Ho  moans  Quinlus  Metellus  Nepos,  the  same  man  who  afterward 
prevented  his  making  an  address  to  the  people  on  Ins  resigning  his  con- 
sulship. 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  93 

assistance  of  the  consuls,  they  will  then  find  it  easier  to  crush 
you  when  you  are  deprived  of  your  arms  and  vigor.  For  they 
have  no  fear  of  another  consul  being  elected  in  the  place  of 
this  one  ;  they  see  that  that  will  depend  upon  your  colleagues ; 
they  hope  that  Silanus,  an  illustrious  man,  will  be  exposed  to 
their  attacks  without  any  colleague  ;  and  that  so  will  you  with- 
out any  consul ;  and  that  so  will  the  republic  without  any 
protector.  When  such  are  our  circumstances,  and  such  our 
perils,  it  becomes  you,  O  Marcus  Cato,  who  have  been  born, 
not  for  my  good,  nor  for  your  own  good,  but  for  that  of  your 
country,  to  perceive  what  are  their  real  objects ;  to  retain  as 
your  assistant,  and  defender,  and  partner  in  the  republic,  a 
consul  who  has  no  private  desires  to  gratify,  a  consul  (as  this 
season  particularly  requires)  formed  by  fortune  to  court  ease, 
but  by  knowledge  to  carry  on  war,  and  by  courage  and  prac- 
tice to  discharge  in  a  proper  manner  whatever  business  you 
can  impose  upon  him. 

XXXIX.  Although  the  whole  power  of  providing  for  this 
rests  with  you,  O  judges — you,  in  this  cause,  are  the  masters 
and  directors  of  the  whole  republic — if  Lucius  Catiline,  with 
his  council  of  infamous  men  whom  he  took  out  with  him, 
could  give  his  decision  in  this  case,  he  would  condemn  Lucius 
Murena ;  if  he  could  put  him  to  death,  he  would.  For  his 
plans  require  the  republic  to  be  deprived  of  every  sort  of  aid ; 
they  require  the  number  of  generals  who  may  be  opposed  to 
his  phrensy  to  be  diminished  ;  they  require  that  greater  power 
should  be  given  to  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  when  they  have 
driven  away  their  adversary,  to  raise  sedition  and  discord. 
Will,  then,  thoroughly  honorable  and  wise  men,  chosen  out 
of  the  most  dignified  orders  of  the  state,  give  the  same  decis-> 
ion  that  most  profligate  gladiator,  the  enemy  of  the  republic, 
^fculd  give  ?  Believe  me,  O  judges,  in  this  case  you  are  de- 
M  prig  not  only  about  the  safety  of  Lucius  Murena,  but  also 
Won  your  own.  We  are  in  a  situation  of  extreme  danger  ;  there 
is  no  means  now  of  repairing  the  losses  which  we  have  al- 
ready sustained,  or  of  recovering  the  ground  which  we  have 
lost.  We  must  take  care  not  only  not  to  diminish  the  re- 
sources which  we  still  have,  but  to  provide  ourselves  with  ad- 
ditional ones  if  that  be  possible.  For  the  enemy  is  not  on 
the  Anio,  which  in  the  time  of  the  Punic  war  appeared  a 
most  terrible  thing,  but  he  is  in  the  city,  in  the  forum  (O  ye 
immortal  gods !  this  can  not  be  said  without  a  groan) ;  there 


94  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

are  even  some  enemies  in  this  sacred  temple  of  the  republic, 
in  the  very  senate-house  itself.  May  the  gods  grant  that  my 
colleague,  that  most  gallant  man,  may  be  able  in  arms  to 
overtake  and  crush  this  impious  piratical  war  of  Catiline's. 
I,  in  the  garb  of  peace,  with  you  and  all  virtuous  men  for 
my  assistants,  will  endeavor  by  my  prudence  to  divide  and 
destroy  the  dangers  which  the  republic  is  pregnant  with  and 
about  to  bring  forth.  But  still,  what  Avill  be  the  consequences 
if  these  things  slip  through  our  hands  and  remain  in  vigor 
till  the  ensuing  year  ?  There  will  be  but  one  consul ;  and  he 
will  have  sufficient  occupation,  not  in  conducting  a  war,  but 
in  managing  the  election  of  a  colleague.  Those  who  will 
hinder  him  ****** 

That  intolerable  pest  *****  will  break  forth 
wherever  it  can  find  room;  and  even  now  it  is  threatening 
the  Roman  people ;  soon  it  will  descend  upon  the  suburban 
districts  ;  phrensy  will  range  at  large  among  the  camp,  fear  in 
the  senate-house,  conspiracy  in  the  forum,  an  army  in  the  Cam- 
pus Martius,  and  devastation  all  over  the  country.  In  every 
habitation,  and  in  every  place,  we  shall  live  in  fear  of  fire  and 
sword.  And  yet  all  these  evils,  which  have  been  so  long 
making  ready  against  us,  if  the  republic  is  fortified  by  its 
natural  means  of  protection,  will  be  easily  put  down  by  the 
counsels  of  the  magistrates  and  the  diligence  of  private  indi- 
viduals. 

XL.  And  as  this  is  the  case,  O  judges,  in  the  first  place  for 
ihe  sake  of  the  republic,  than  which  nothing  ought  to  be  of 
more  importance  in  the  eyes  of  every  one,  I  do  warn  you,  as  I 
am  entitled  to  do  by  my  extreme  diligence  in  the  cause  of  the 
republic,  which  is  well  known  to  all  of  you — I  do  exhort  you, 
as  my  consular  authority  gives  me  a  right  to  do — I  do  en- 
treat you,  as  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  justifies  me  in  do- 
ing, to  provide  for  the  tranquillity,  for  the  peace,  for  the  safety, 
for  the  lives  of  yourselves  and  of  all  the  rest  of  your  fellow- 
citizens.  In  the  next  place  I  do  appeal  to  your  good  faith, 
O  judges  (whether  you  may  think  that  I  do  so  in  the  spirit 
of  an  advocate  or  a  friend  signifies  but  little),  and  beg  of  you 
not  to  overwhelm  the  recent  exaltation  of  Lucius  Murena,  an 
unfortunate  man,  of  one  oppressed  both  by  bodily  disease  and 
by  vexation  of  mind,  by  a  fresh  cause  for  mourning.  Ih1  has 
been  lately  distinguished  by  the  greatest  kindness  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  and  has  seemed  fortunate  in  being  the  first  man 


FOR  L.  MURENA.  95 

to  bring  the  honors  of  the  consulship  into  an  old  family,  and 
a  most  ancient  municipality.  Now,  in  a  mourning  and  un- 
becoming garb,  debilitated  by  sickness,  worn  out  with  tears 
and  grief,  he  is  a  suppliant  to  you,  O  judges,  invoking  your 
good  faith,  imploring  your  pity,  fixing  all  his  hopes  on  your 
power  and  your  assistance.  Do  not,  in  the  name  of  the  im- 
mortal gods,  O  judges,  deprive  him  not  only  of  that  office 
which  he  thought  conferred  additional  honor  on  him,  and  at 
the  same  time  of  all  the  honors  which  he  had  gained  before, 
and  of  all  his  dignity  and  fortune.  And,  O  judges,  what  Lu- 
cius Murena  is  begging  and  entreating  of  you  is  no  more  than 
this  ;  that  if  he  has  done  no  injury  unjustly  to  any  one,  if  he 
has  offended  no  man's  ears  or  inclination,  if  he  has  never  (to 
say  the  least)  given  any  one  reason  to  hate  him  either  at  home 
or  when  engaged  in  war,  he  may  in  that  case  find  among  you 
moderation  in  judging,  and  a  refuge  for  men  in  dejection,  and 
assistance  for  modest  merit.  The  deprivation  of  the  consul- 
ship is  a  measure  calculated  to  excite  great  feelings  of  pity, 
O  judges.  For  with  the  consulship  every  thing  else  is  taken 
away  too.  And  at  such  times  as  these  the  consulship  itself 
is  hardly  a  thing  to  envy  a  man.  For  it  is  exposed  to  the 
harangues  of  seditious  men,  to  the  plots  of  conspirators,  to  the 
attacks  of  Catiline.  It  is  opposed  single-handed  to  every  dan- 
ger, and  to  every  sort  of  unpopularity.  So  that,  O  judges,  I 
do  not  see  what  there  is  in  this  beautiful  consulship  which 
need  be  grudged  to  Murena,  or  to  any  other  man  among  us. 
But  those  things  in  it  which  are  calculated  to  make  a  man  an 
object  of  pity,  are  visible  to  my  eyes,  and  you  too  can  clearly 
see  and  comprehend  them. 

XLI.  If  (may  Jupiter  avert  the  omen)  you  condemn  this 
man  by  your  decision,  where  is  the  unhappy  man  to  turn? 
Home?  What,  that  he  may  see  that  image  of  that  most 
illustrious  man  his  father,  which  a  few  days  ago  he  beheld 
crowned  with  laurel  when  men  were  congratulating  him  on 
his  election,  now  in  mourning  and  lamentation  at  his  dis- 
grace ?  Or  to  his  mother,  who,  wretched  woman,  having  late- 
ly embraced  her  son  as  consul,  is  now  in  all  the  torments  of 
anxiety,  lest  she  should  but  a  short  time  afterward  behold 
that  same  son  stripped  of  all  his  dignity?  But  why  do  1 
speak  of  his  home  or  of  his  mother,  when  the  new  punish^, 
ment  of  the  law  deprives  him  of  home,  and  parent,  and  of 
the  intercourse  with  and  sight  of  all  his  relations  ?     Shall  tho 


9G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

wretched  man  then  go  into  banishment?     Whither  shall  he 
go?     Shall  he  go  to  the  east,  where  he  was  for  many  years 
lieutenant,  where  he  commanded  armies,  and  performed  many 
great  exploits'?     But  it  is  a  most  painful  thing  to  return  to  a 
place  in  disgrace,  from  which  you  have  departed  in  honor. 
Shall  he  hide  himself  in  the  opposite  regions  of  the  earth,  so 
as  to  let  Transalpine  Gaul  see  the  same  man  grieving  and 
mourning,  whom  it  lately  saw  with  the  greatest  joy,  exercis- 
ing the  highest  authority  ?     In  that  same  province,  moreover, 
with  what  feelings  will  he   behold  Caius  Murena,  his   own 
brother  ?     What  will  be  the  grief  of  the  one,  what  will  be  the 
agony  of  the  other?     What  will  be  the  lamentations  of  both  ? 
How  great  will  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune  appear,  and  what  a 
change  will  there  be  in  every  one's  conversation,  when  in  the 
very  places  in  which  a  few  days  before  messengers  and  letters 
had  repeated,  with  every  indication  of  joy,  that  Murena  had 
been  made  consul — in  the  very  places  from  which  his  own 
friends  and  his  hereditary  connections  flocked  to  Rome  for  the 
purpose  of  congratulating  him,  he  himself  arrives  on  a  sudden 
as  the  messenger  of  his  own  misfortune  !     And  if  these  things 
seem  bitter,  and  miserable,  and  grievous — if  they  are  most  for- 
eign  to   your  general   clemency  and   merciful  disposition,  O 
judges,  then  maintain  the  kindness  done  to  him  by  the  Roman 
people ;  restore  the  consul  to  the  republic ;  grant  this  to  his 
own  modesty,  grant  it  to  his  dead  father,  grant  it  to  his  race 
and  family,  grant  it  also  to  Lanuvium,  that  most  honorable 
municipality,  the  whole  population  of  which  you  have  seen 
watching  this  cause  with  tears  and  mourning.     Do  not  tear 
from  his  ancestral  sacrifices  to  Juno  Sospita,  to  whom  all  con- 
suls are  bound  to  offer  sacrifice,  a  consul  who  is  so  peculiarly 
her  own.     Him,  if  my  recommendation  has  any  weight,  if  my 
solemn  assertion  has  any  authority,  I  now  recommend  to  you, 
O  judges — I  the  consul  recommend  him  to  you  as   consul, 
promising  and  undertaking  that  he  will  prove  most  desirous  of 
tranquillity,  most  anxious  to  consult  the  interests  of  virtuous 
men,  very  active  against  sedition,  very  brave  in  war,  and  an 
irreconcilable  enemy  to  this  conspiracy,  which  is  at  this  mo- 
ment seeking  to  undermine  the  republic. 


FOR  P    SYLLA.  97 


THE  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE  OF  PUBLIU? 

SYLLA. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Publius  Sylla  having  been  elected  consul  with  Publius  Autronius  four 
years  before,  had  been  impeached  for  bribery,  convicted,  and  deprived 
of  his  consulship.  He  had  then  been  prosecuted  by  Torquatus.  He 
was  now  impeached  by  the  younger  Torquatus,  the  son  of  his  formel 
prosecutor,  as  having  been  implicated  in  both  of  Catiline's  conspir- 
acies. (Autronius  was  accused  also,  and  he  also  applied  to  Cicero  ta 
defend  him,  but  Cicero,  being  convinced  that  he  was  guilty,  not  only 
refused  to  defend  him,  but  appeared  as  a  witness  against  him.)  Tor- 
quatus's  real  motive  appears  to  have  been  jealousy  of  the  fame  which 
Cicero  had  obtained  in  his  consulship  ;  and,  in  his  speech  for  the  pros' 
ecution,  when  he  found  that  Cicero  had'  undertaken  Sylla's  cause,  he 
had  attacked  Cicero  himself,  and  tried  to  bring  him  into  unpopularity, 
calling  him  a  king  who  assumed  a  power  to  save  or  to  destroy  just  as 
he  thought  fit ;  and  saying  that  he  was  the  third  foreign  king  that  ha<7 
reigned  in  Rome  ;  Numa  and  Tarquin  being  the  two  former.  Sylla 
was  acquitted. 

I.  I  should  have  been  very  glad,  O  judges,  if  Publius  SyhV 
had  been  able  formerly  to  retain  the  honor  of  the  dignity  to 
Which  he  was  appointed,  and  had  been  allowed,  after  the  mis' 
ibrtune  which  befell  him,  to  derive  some  reward  from  hi,° 
.moderation  in  adversity.  But  since  his  unfriendly  fortune 
has  brought  it  about  that  he  has  been  damaged,  even  at  a 
time  of  his  greatest  honor,  by  the  unpopularity  ensuing  not 
only  from  the  common  envy  which  pursues  ambitious  men. 
but  also  by  the  singular  hatred  in  which  Autronius  is  held, 
and  that  even  in  this  sad  and  deplorable  wreck  of  his  former 
fortunes,  he  has  still  some  enemies  whose  hostility  he  is  unable 
to  appease  by  the  punishment  which  has  fallen  upon  him; 
although  I  am  very  greatly  concerned  at  his  distresses,  yet  in 
his  other  misfortunes  I  can  easily  endure  that  an  opportunity 
should  be  offeied  to  me  of  causing  virtuous  men  to  recognize 
my  lenity  and  merciful  disposition,  which  was  formerly  known 
to  sve^v  one.  but  which  has  of  late  been  interrupted  as  it 

E 


t)6  CICERCVS  ORATIONS. 

were  ;  and  of  forcing  wicked  and  profligate  citizens,  being 
again  defeated  and  vanquished,  to  confess  that,  when  the  re- 
public was  in  danger,  I  was  energetic  and  fearless ;  now  that 
it  is  saved,  I  am  lenient  and  merciful.  And  since  Lucius 
Torquatus,  O  judges,  my  own  most  intimate  friend,  O  judges, 
has  thought  that,  if  he  violated  our  friendship  and  intimacy 
somewhat  in  his  speech  for  the  prosecution,  he  could  by  that 
means  detract  a  little  from  the  authority  of  my  defense,  I  will 
unite  with  my  endeavors  to  ward  off  danger  from  my  client, 
a  defense  of  my  own  conduct  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty. 
Not  that  I  would  employ  that  sort  of  speech  at  present,  O 
judges,  if  my  own  interest  alone  were  concerned,  for  on  many 
occasions  and  in  many  places  I  have  had,  and  I  often  shall 
have,  opportunities  of  speaking  of  my  own  credit.     But  as  he, 

0  judges,  has  thought  that  the  more  he  could  take  away  from 
my  authority,  the  more  also  he  would  be  diminishing  my 
client's  means  of  protection  ;  I  also  think,  that  if  I  can  induce 
you  to  approve  of  the  principles  of  my  conduct,  and  my  wis- 
dom in  this  discharge  of  my  duty  and  in  undertaking  this 
defense,  I  shall  also  induce  you  to  look  favorably  on  the 
cause  of  Publius  Sylla.     And  in  the  first  place,  O  Torquatus, 

1  ask  you  this,  why  you  should  separate  me  from  the  other 
illustrious  and  chief  men  of  this  city,  in  regard  to  this  duty, 
and  to  the  right  of  defending  clients?  For  what  is  the  reason 
why  the  act  of  Quintus  Hortensius,  a  most  illustrious  man 
and  a  most  accomplished  citizen,  is  not  blamed  by  you,  and 
mine  is  blamed?  For  if  a  design  of  firing  the  city,  and  of 
extinguishing  this  empire,  and  of  destroying  this  city,  was 
entertained  by  Publius  Sylla,  ought  not  such  projects  to  raise 
greater  indignation  and  greater  hatred  against  their  authors 
in  me  than  in  Quintus  Hortensius?  Ought  not  my  opinion 
to  be  more  severe  in  such  a  matter,  as  to  whom  I  should 
think  fit  to  assist  in  these  causes,  whom  to  oppose,  whom 
to  defend,  and  whom  to  abandon?  No  doubt,  says  he,  for 
it  was  you  who  investigated,  you  who  laid  open  the  whole 
conspiracy. 

II.  And  when  he  says  this,  he  does  not  perceive  that  the 
man  who  laid  it  open  took  care  that  all  men  should  see  that 
which  had  previously  been  hidden.  Wherefore  that  con- 
spiracy, if  it  was  laid  open  by  me,  is  now  as  evident  in  all  its 
particulars  to  Hortensius  as  it  is  to  me.  And  when  you  see 
that  he,  a   man  of  such  rank,  and  authority,  and  virtue,  and 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  99 

wisdom,  has   not  hesitated  to  defend  this  innocent  Publius 
Sylla,  I  ask  why  the  access  to  the  cause  which  was  open  to 
Hortensius,  ought  to  be  closed  against  me?     I  ask  this  also — 
if  you  think  that  I,  who  defend  him,  am  to  be  blamed,  what 
do  you   think   of  those   excellent   men   and  most   illustrious 
citizens,  by  whose  zeal   and  dignified  presence  you  perceive 
that  this  trial  is  attended,  by  whom  the  cause  of  my  client  is 
honored,  by  whom    his  innocence  is   upheld?      For  that  is 
not  the  only  method  of  defending  a  man's  cause  which  con- 
sists in  speaking  for  him.     All  who  countenance  him  with 
their  presence,  who  show  anxiety  in  his  behalf,  who  desire  his 
safety,  all,  as  far  as  their  opportunities  allow  or  their  author- 
ity extends,  are  defending  him.     Ought  I  to  be  unwilling  to 
appear  on  these  benches  on  which  I  see  these  lights  and  orna- 
ments of  the  republic,  when  it  is  only  by  my  own  numerous 
and  great  labors  and  dangers  that  I  have  mounted  into  their 
rank,  and  into  this  lofty  position  and  dignity  which  I  now 
enjoy?     And  that  you  may  understand,  O  Torquatus,  whom 
you  are  accusing,  if  you  are  offended  that  I,  who  have  defended 
no  one  on  inquiries  of  this  sort,  do  not  abandon  Publius  Sylla, 
remember  also  the  other  men,  whom  you  see  countenancing 
this  man  by  their  presence.     You  will  see  that  their  opinion 
and  mine  has  been  one  and  the  same  about  this  man's  case, 
and  about  that  of  the  others.     Who  of  us  stood  by  Yargun- 
tius?     No  one.     Not  even  this  Quintus  Hortensius,  the  very 
man  who  had  formerly  been  Ids  only  defender  when  prose- 
cuted for   corruption.      For   he   did  not   think  himself  con- 
nected by  any  bond  of  duty  with  that  man,  when  he,  by  the 
commission  of  such  enormous  wickedness,  had  broken  asunder 
the  ties  of  all   duties  whatever.     Who  of  us   countenanced 
Servius   Sylla?    who    *    *    *    ?    who  of  us  thought  Marcus 
LEeca  or  Caius  Cornelius  fit  to  be  defended?   who  of  all  the 
men  whom  you  see  here  gave  the  countenance  of  his  presence 
to  any  one  of  those  criminals'?     No  one.     Why  was  that? 
Because  in  other  causes  good  men  think  that  they  ought  not 
to  refuse  to  defend  even  guilty  men,  if  they  are  their  own  in- 
timate  personal  friends ;  but,  in  this  prosecution,  there  would 
not  only  be  the  fault  of  acting  lightly,  but  there  would  be  even 
some  infection  of  wickedness  which  wrould  taint  one  who  de- 
fended that  man  whom  he  suspected  of  being  involved  in  the 
guilt  of  planning  the  parricide  of  his  country.     What  was  the 
case  of  Autronius  ?  did  not  his  companions   did  not  his  own 


100  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

colleagues,  did  not  his  former  friends,  of  whom  he  had  at  one 
time  an  ample  number,  did  not  all  these  men,  who  are  the 
chief  men  in  the  republic,  abandon  him  %  Ay,  and  many  of 
them  even  damaged  him  with  their  evidence.  They  made  up 
their  minds  that  it  was  an  offense  of  such  enormity,  that  they 
not  only  were  bound  to  abstain  from  doing  any  thing  to  con- 
ceal it,  but  that  it  was  their  duty  to  reveal  it,  and  throw  all 
the  light  that  they  were  able  upon  it. 

HI.  What  reason  is  there  then  for  your  wondering,  if  you 
see  me  countenancing  this  cause  in  company  with  those  men, 
whom  you  know  that  I  also  joined  in  discountenancing  the 
other  causes  by  absenting  myself  from  them.  Unless  you 
wish  me  to  be  considered  a  man  of  eminent  ferocity  before  all 
other  men,  a  man  savage,  inhuman,  and  endowed  with  an  ex- 
traordinary cruelty  and  barbarity  of  disposition.  If  this  be 
the  character  which,  on  account  of  all  my  exploits,  you  wish 
now  to  fix  upon  my  whole  life,  O  Torquatus,  you  are  great- 
ly mistaken.  Nature  made  me  merciful,  my  country  made 
me  severe ;  but  neither  my  country  nor  nature  has  ever 
required  me  to  be  cruel.  Lastly,  that  same  vehement  and 
fierce  character  which  at  that  time  the  occasion  and  the 
republic  imposed  upon  me,  my  oavu  inclination  and  nature 
itself  has  now  relieved  me  of;  for  my  country  required  sever- 
ity for  a  short  time,  my  nature  requires  clemency  and  lenity 
during  my  whole  life.  There  is,  therefore,  no  pretense  for 
your  separating  me  from  so  numerous  a  company  of  most 
honorable  men.  Duty  is  a  plain  thing,  and  the  cause  of  all 
men  is  one  and  the  same.  You  will  have  no  reason  to  marvel 
hereafter,  whenever  you  see  me  on  the  same  side  as  you  ob-r 
'jerve  these  men.  For  there  is  no  side  in  the  republic  in  which 
I  have  a  peculiar  and  exclusive  property.  The  time  for  acting 
did  belong  more  peculiarly  to  me  than  to  the  others;  but 
the  cause  of  indignation,  and  fear,  and  danger  was  common  to 
us  all.  Nor,  indeed,  could  I  have  been  at  that  time,  as  I  was, 
the  chief  man  in  providing  for  the  safety  of  the  state,  if  others 
had  been  unwilling  to  be  my  companions.  AVherefore,  it  is 
inevitable  that  that  which,  when  I  was  consul,  belonged  to  me 
especially  above  all  other  men,  should,  now  that  I  am  a  pri- 
vate individual,  belong  to  me  in  common  with  the  rest.  Nor 
do  I  say  this  for  the  sake  of  sharing  my  unpopularity  with 
others,  but  rather  with  the  object  of  allowing  them  to  partake 
of  my  praises.     I  will  give  a  share  of  my  burden  to  no  one  ,• 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  101 

but  a  share  of  my  glory  to  all  good  men.  "  You  gave  evi- 
dence against  Autronius,"  says  he,  "  and  you  are  defending 
Sylla."  All  this,  O  judges,  has  this  object,  to  prove  that,  if  I 
am  an  inconstant  and  fickle-minded  man,  my  evidence  ought 
not  to  be  credited,  and  my  defense  ought  not  to  carry  any 
authority  with  it.  But  if  there  is  found  in  me  a  proper  con- 
sideration for  the  republic,  a  scrupulous  regard  to  my  duty, 
and  a  constant  desire  to  retain  the  good-will  of  virtuous  men, 
then  there  is  nothing  which  an  accuser  ought  less  to  say  than 
that  Sylla  is  defended  by  me,  but  that  Autronius  was  injured 
by  my  evidence  against  him.  For  I  think  that  I  not  only 
carry  with  me  zeal  in  defending  causes,  but  also  that  my  de- 
liberate opinion  has  some  weight ;  which,  however,  I  will  use 
with  moderation,  O  judges,  and  I  would  not  have  used  it  at  all 
if  he  had  not  compelled  me. 

IV.  Two  conspiracies  are  spoken  of  by  you,  O  Torquatus ; 
one,  which  is  said  to  have  been  formed  in  the  consulship  of 
Lepidus   and  Yolcatius,  when  your  own  father  was  consul 
elect ;  the  other,  that  which  broke  out  in  my  consulship.     In 
each  of  these  you  say  that  Sylla  was  implicated.     You  know 
that  I  was  not  acquainted  with  the  counsels  of  your  father,  a 
most  brave  man,  and  a  most  excellent  consul.     You  know,  as 
there  was  the  greatest  intimacy  between  you  and  me,  that 
I  knew  nothing  of  what  happened,  or  of  what  was  said  in 
those  times ;    I   imagine,   because  I   had   not  yet  become   a 
thoroughly  public  character,  because  I  had  not  yet  arrived  at 
the  goal  of  honor  which  I  proposed  to  myself,  and  because 
my  ambition  and  my  forensic  labors  separated  me  from  all 
political  deliberations.     Who,  then,  was  present  at  your  coun- 
sels?    All  these  men  whom  you  see  here,  giving  Sylla  the 
countenance    of  their    presence ;    and    among   the    first    was 
Quintus  Hortensius — who,  by  reason  of  his  honor  and  worth, 
and  his  admirable   disposition  toward  the  republic,  and  be- 
cause of  his  exceeding  intimacy  with  and  excessive  attach- 
ment to  your  father,  was  greatly  moved  by  the  thoughts  of 
the  common  danger,  and  most  especially  by  the  personal  peril 
of  your  father.     Therefore,  he  was  defended  from  the  charge 
of  being  implicated  in  that  conspiracy  by  that  man  who  was 
present  at  and  acquainted  with  all  your  deliberations,  who  was 
a  partner  in  all  your  thoughts  and  in  all  your  fears :  and,  ele- 
gant and  argumentative  as  his  speech  in  repelling  this  accusa- 
tion was,  it  carried  with  it  as  much  authority  as  it  displayed 


102  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

of  ability.  Of  that  conspiracy,  therefore,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  formed  against  you,  to  have  been  reported  to  you,  and  to 
have  been  revealed  by  you,  I  was  unable  to  say  any  thing  as  a 
witness.  For  I  not  only  found  out  nothing,  but  scarcely  did 
any  report  or  suspicion  of  that  matter  reach  my  ears.  They 
who  were  your  counselors,  who  became  acquainted  with  these 
things  in  your  company — they  who  were  supposed  to  be  them- 
selves menaced  with  that  danger,  who  gave  no  countenance  to 
Autronius,  who  gave  most  important  evidence  against  him — 
are  now  defending  Publius  Sylla,  are  countenancing  him  by 
their  presence  here  ;  now  that  he  is  in  danger  they  declare  that 
they  were  not  deterred  by  the  accusation  of  conspiracy  from 
countenancing  the  others,  but  by  the  guilt  of  the  men.  But 
for  the  time  of  my  consulship,  and  with  respect  to  the  charge 
of  the  greatest  conspiracy,  Sylla  shall  be  defended  by  me.  And 
this  partition  of  the  cause  between  Hortensius  and  me  has  not 
been  made  by  chance,  or  at  random,  O  judges,  but,  as  we  saw 
that  we  were  employed  as  defenders  of  a  man  against  those  ac- 
cusations in  which  we  might  have  been  witnesses,  each  of  us 
thought  that  it  would  be  best  for  him  to  undertake  that  part  of 
the  case,  concerning  which  he  himself  had  been  able  to  acquire 
some  knowledge,  and  to  form  some  opinions  with  certainty. 

V.  And  since  you  have  listened  attentively  to  Hortensius, 
while  speaking  on  the  charge  respecting  the  former  conspiracy, 
now,  I  beg  you,  listen  to  this  first  statement  of  mine  respect- 
ing the  conspiracy  which  was  formed  in  my  consulship. 

When  I  was  consul  I  heard  many  reports,  I  made  many  in- 
quiries, I  learned  a  great  many  circumstances,  concerning  the 
extreme  peril  of  the  republic.  No  messenger,  no  information, 
no  letters,  no  suspicion  ever  reached  me  at  any  time  in  the 
least  affecting  Sylla.  Perhaps  this  assertion  ought  to  have 
great  weight,  when  coming  from  a  man  who,  as  consul, 
had  investigated  the  plots  laid  against  the  republic  with 
prudence,  had  revealed  them  with  sincerity,  had  chastised 
them  with  magnanimity,  and  who  says  that  he  himself  never 
heard  a  word  against  Publius  Sylla,  and  never  entertained 
a  suspicion  of  him.  But  I  do  not  as  yet  employ  this 
assertion  for  the  purpose  of  defending  him;  I  rather  use 
it  with  a  view  to  clear  myself,  in  order  that  Torquatus  may 
cease  to  wonder  that  I,  who  would  not  appear  by  the  side 
of  Autronius,  am  now  defending  Sylla.  For  what  was  the 
cause  of  Autronius  1  and  what  is  the  cause  of  Sylla  ?     The 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  103 

former  tried  to  disturb  and  get  rid  of  a  prosecution  for  bribery 
by  raising  in  the  first  instance  a  sedition  among  gladiators  and 
runaway  slaves,  and  after  that,  as  we  all  saw,  by  stoning  peo- 
ple, and  collecting  a  violent  mob.  Sylla,  if  his  own  modesty 
and  worth  could  not  avail  him,  sought  no  other  assistance. 
The  former,  wrhen  he  had  been  convicted,  behaved  in  such 
a  manner,  not  only  in  his  secret  designs  and  conversation,  but 
in  every  look  and  in  his  whole  countenance,  as  to  appear 
an  enemy  to  the  most  honorable  orders  in  the  state,  hostile 
to  every  virtuous  man,  and  a  foe  to  his  country.  The  latter 
considered  himself  so  bowed  down,  so  broken  down  by  that 
misfortune,  that  he  thought  that  none  of  his  former  dignity 
was  left  to  him,  except  what  he  could  retain  by  his  present 
moderation.  And  in  this  conspiracy,  wrhat  union  wras  ever  so 
close  as  that  between  Autronius  and  Catiline,  between  Autro- 
nius  and  Lentulus?  What  combination  was  there  ever  be- 
tween any  men  for  the  most  virtuous  purposes,  so  intimate  as 
his  connection  with  them  for  deeds  of  wickedness,  lust  and 
audacity?  what  crime  is  there  which  Lentulus  did  not  plot 
writh  Autronius?  what  atrocity  did  Catiline  ever  commit  with- 
out his  assistance  1  while,  in  the  mean  time,  Sylla  not  only  ab- 
stained from  seeking  the  concealment  of  night  and  solitude  in 
their  company,  but  he  had  never  the  very  slightest  intercourse 
with  them,  either  in  conversation  or  in  casual  meetings.  The 
Allobroges,  those  who  gave  us  the  truest  information  on  the 
most  important  matters,  accused  Autronius,  and  so  did  the 
letters  of  many  men,  and  many  private  witnesses.  All  that 
time  no  one  ever  accused  Sylla ;  no  one  ever  mentioned  his 
name.  Lastly,  after  Catiline  had  been  driven  out,  or  allowed 
to  depart  out  of  the  city,  Autronius  sent  his  arms,  trumpets, 
bugles,  scythes,1  standards,  legions.  He  who  was  left  in  the 
city,  but  expected  out  of  it,  though  checked  by  the  punish- 
ment of  Lentulus,  gave  way  at  times  to  feelings  of  fear,  but 
never  to  any  right  feelings  or  good  sense.  Sylla,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  so  quiet,  that  all  that  time  he  was  at  Naples,  where 
it  is  not  supposed  that  there  were  any  men  who  were  impli- 
cated in  or  suspected  of  this  crime  ;  and  the  place  itself  is  one 
not  so  well  calculated  to  excite  the  feelings  of  men  in  distress, 
as  to  console  them. 

"VI.   On  account,  therefore,  of  this  great  dissimilarity   be- 

1  Some  commentators  propose  fasces  instead  of  falces  here,  and  it 
would  certainly  make  much  better  sense. 


104  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tween  the  men  and  the  eases,  I  also  behaved  in  a  different 
manner  to  them  both.  For  Autronius  came  to  me,  and  he 
was  constantly  coming  to  me,  with  many  tears,  as  a  sup- 
pliant, to  beg  me  to  defend  him,  and  he  used  to  remind  me 
that  he  had  been  my  school-fellow  in  my  childhood,  my  friend 
in  my  youth,  and  my  colleague  in  the  quaestorship.  He  used 
to  enumerate  many  services  which  I  had  done  him,  and  some 
also  which  he  had  done  me.  By  all  which  circumstances,  O 
judges,  I  was  so  much  swayed  and  influenced,  that  I  banished 
from  my  recollection  all  the  plots  which  he  had  laid  against 
me  myself;  that  I  forgot  that  Caius  Cornelius  had  been  lately 
sent  by  him  for  the  purpose  of  killing  me  in  my  own  house, 
in  the  sight  of  my  wife  and  children.  And  if  he  had  formed 
these  designs  against  me  alone,  such  is  my  softness  and  lenity 
of  disposition,  that  I  should  never  have  been  able  to  resist  his 
tears  and  entreaties ;  but  when  the  thoughts  of  my  country, 
of  your  dangers,  of  this  city,  of  all  those  shrines»and  temples 
which  we  see  around  us,  of  the  infant  children,  and  matrons, 
and  virgins  of  the  city  occurred  to  me,  and  when  those  hostile*, 
and  fatal  torches  destined  for  the  entire  conflagration  of  the 
whole  city,  when  the  arms  which  had  been  collected,  when  the 
slaughter  and  blood  of  the  citizens,  when  the  ashes  of  my 
country  began  to  present  themselves  to  my  eyes,  and  to  excite 
my  feelings  by  the  recollection,  then  I  resisted  him,  then 
I  resisted  not  only  that  enemy  of  his  country,  that  parricide 
himself,  but  I  withstood  also  his  relations  the  Marcelli,  father 
and  son,  one  of  whom  was  regarded  by  me  with  the  respect 
due  to  a  parent,  and  the  other  with  the  affection  which  one 
feels  toward  a  son.  And  I  thought  that  I  could  not,  without 
being  guilty  of  the  very  greatest  wickedness,  defend  in  their 
companion  the  same  crimes  which  I  had  chastised  in  the  case 
of  others,  when  I  knew  him  to  be  guilty.  And,  on  the  same 
principle,  1  could  not  endure  to  see  Publius  Sylla  coming  to  ma 
as  a  suppliant,  or  these  same  Marcelli  in  tears  at  his  danger ; 
nor  could  I  resist  the  entreaties  of  Marcus  Messala,  whom  vou 
see  in  court,  a  most  intimate  friend  of  my  own.  For,  neither 
was  his  cause  disagreeable  to  my  natural  disposition,  nor  had 
the  man  or  the  facts  any  thing  in  them  at  variance  with  my 
feelings  of  clemency,  llis  name  had  never  been  mentioned, 
there  was  no  trace  whatever  of  him  in  the  conspiracy ;  no  in- 
formation  had  touched  him,  no  suspicion  had  born  breathed  of 
him.     I  undertook  his  cause,  O  Torquatus;  I  undertook  i^ 


FOR  R  SYLLA.  105 

and  I  did  so  willingly,  in  order  that,  while  good  men  had  al- 
ways, as  I  hope,  thought  me  virtuous  and  firm,  not  even  bad 
men  might  be  able  to  call  me  cruel. 

VII.  This  Torquatus  then,  O  judges,  says  that  he  can  not 
endure  my  kingly  power.  What  is  the  meaning  of  my  kingly 
power,  O  Torquatus  ?  I  suppose  you  mean  the  power  I  ex- 
erted in  my  consulship  ;  in  which  I  did  not  command  at  all, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  I  obeyed  the  conscript  fathers,  and  all 
good  men.  In  my  discharge  of  that  office,  O  judges,  kingly 
power  was  not  established  by  me,  but  put  down.  Will  you  say 
that  then,  when  I  had  such  absolute  power  and  authority  over- 
all the  military  and  civil  affairs  of  the  state,  I  was  not  a  king, 
but  that  now,  when  I  am  only  a  private  individual,  I  have  the 
power  of  a  king  ?  Under  what  title  ?  "  Why?  because,"  says 
he,  "  those  against  whom  you  gave  evidence  were  convicted, 
and  the  man  whom  you  defend  hopes  that  he  shall  be  acquit- 
ted." Here  I  make  you  this  reply,  as  to  what  concerns  my 
evidence :  that  if  I  gave  false  evidence,  you  also  gave  evidence 
against  the  same  man ;  if  my  testimony  was  true,  then  I  say, 
that  persuading  the  judges  to  believe  a  true  statement,  which 
one  has  made  on  oath,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  being  a 
king.  And  of  the  hopes  of  my  client,  I  only  say,  that  Publius 
Sylla  does  not  expect  from  me  any  exertion  of  my  influence  or 
interest,  or,  in  short,  any  thing  except  to  defend  him  with  good 
faith.  "  But  unless  you,"  says  he,  "  had  undertaken  his  cause, 
he  would  never  have  resisted  me,  but  would  have  fled  without 
saying  a  word  in  his  defense."  Even  if  I  were  to  grant  to  you 
that  Quintus  Hortensius,  being  a  man  of  such  wisdom  as  he  is, 
and  that  all  these  men  of  high  character,  rely  not  on  their  own 
judgment,  but  on  mine ;  if  I  were  to  grant  to  you,  what  no 
one  can  believe,  that  these  men  would  not  have  countenanced 
Publius  Sylla  if  I  had  not  done  so  too ;  still,  which  is  the 
king,  he  whom  men,  though  perfectly  innocent,  can  not  resist, 
or  he  who  does  not  abandon  men  in  misfortune1?  But  here 
too,  though  you  had  not  the  least  occasion  for  it,  you  took  a 
fancy  to  be  witty,  when  you  called  me  Tarquin,  and  Numa, 
and  the  third  foreign  king  of  Rome.  I  won't  say  any  more 
about  the  word  king;  but  I  should  like  to  know  why  you 
called  me  a  foreigner.  For,  if  I  am  such,  then  it  is  not  so 
marvelous  that  I  should  be  a  king  —  because,  as  you  say 
yourself,  foreigners  have  before  now  been  kings  at  Rome — as 
that  a  foreigper  should  be  a  consul  at  Rome.     "  This  is  what  J 

E  2 


I 


106  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mean,"  says  he,  "  that  you  come  from  a  municipal  town."  I 
confess  that  I  do,  and  I  add,  that  I  come  from  that  municipal 
town  from  which  salvation  to  this  city  and  empire  has  more 
than  once  proceeded.  But  I  should  like  exceedingly  to  know 
from  you,  how  it  is  that  those  men  who  come  from  the  muni- 
cipal towns  appear  to  you  to  be  foreigners.  For  no  one  ever 
made  that  objection  to  that  great  man,  Marcus  Cato  the  elder, 
though  he  had  many  enemies,  or  to  Titus  Coruncanius,  or  to 
Marcus  Curius,  or  even  to  that  great  hero  of  our  own  times, 
Caius  Marius,  through  many  men  envied  him.  In  truth,  I  am 
exceedingly  delighted  that  I  am  a  man  of  such  a  character 
that,  when  you  were  anxious  to  find  fault  with  me,  you  could 
still  find  nothing  to  reproach  me  with  which  did  not  apply  also 
to  the  greater  part  of  the  citizens. 

VIII.  But  still,  on  account  of  your  great  friendship  and  in- 
timacy, I  think  it  well  to  remind  you  of  this  more  than  once 
— all  men  can  not  be  patricians.  If  you  would  know  the 
truth,  they  do  not  all  even  wish  to  be  so ;  nor  do  those  of 
your  own  age  think  that  you  ought  on  that  account  to  have 
precedence  over  them.  And  if  we  seem  to  you  to  be  foreign- 
ers, we  whose  name  and  honors  have  now  become  familiar 
topics  of  conversation  and  panegyric  throughout  the  city  and 
among  all  men,  how  greatly  must  those  competitors  of  yours 
seem  to  be  foreigners,  who  now,  having  been  picked  out  of  all 
Italy,  are  contending  with  you  for  honor  and  for  every  dig- 
nity !  And  yet  take  care  that  you  do  not  call  one  of  these  a 
foreigner,  lest  you  should  be  overwhelmed  by  the  votes  of  the 
foreigners.  For  if  they  once  bring  their  activity  and  perse- 
verance into  action,  believe  me  they  will  shake  those  arrogant 
expressions  out  of  you,  and  they  will  frequently  wake  you  from 
sleep,  and  will  not  endure  to  be  surpassed  by  you  in  honors,  un- 
less they  are  also  excelled  by  you  in  virtue.  And  if,  O  judges, 
it  is  fit  for  me  and  you  to  be  considered  foreigners  by  the  rest 
of  the  patricians,  still  nothing  ought  to  be  said  about  this  blot 
by  Torquatus.  For  he  himself  is,  on  his  mother's  side,  a  cit- 
izen of  a  municipal  town  ;  a  man  of  a  most  honorable  and 
noble  family,  but  still  he  comes  from  Asculum.  Either  let 
him,  then,  show  that  the  Piccntians  alone  are  not  foreigners, 
or  else  let  him  congratulate  himself  that  I  do  not  put  my 
family  before  his.  So  do  not  for  the  future  call  me  a  foreign- 
er, lest  you  meet  with  a  sterner  refutation ;  and  do  not  call 
me  a  king,  lest  you  be  laughed  at.     Unless,  indeed,  it  appears 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  107 

to  be  the  conduct  of  a  king  to  live  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to 
be  slave  not  only  to  any  man,  but  not  even  to  any  passion ; 
to  despise  all  capricious  desires ;  to  covet  neither  gold  nor 
silver,  nor  any  thing  else ;  to  form  one's  opinions  in  the  sen- 
ate with  freedom;  to  consider  the  real  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple, rather  than  their  inclinations ;  to  yield  to  no  one,  to  op- 
pose many  men.  If  you  think  that  this  is  the  conduct  of  a 
king,  then  I  confess  that  I  am  a  king.  If  my  power,  if  my 
sway,  if,  lastly,  any  arrogant  or  haughty  expression  of  mine 
moves  your  indignation,  then  you  should  rather  allege  that, 
than  stoop  to  raise  odium  against  me  by  a  name,  and  to  em- 
ploy mere  abuse  and  insult. 

IX.  If,  after  having  done  so  many  services  to  the  republic, 
I  were  to  ask  for  myself  no  other  reward  from  the  senate  and 
people  of  Eome  beyond  honorable  ease,  who  is  there  who 
would  not  grant  it  to  me  %  If  I  were  to  ask,  that  they  would 
keep  all  honors,  and  commands,  and  provinces,  and  triumphs, 
and  all  the  other  insignia  of  eminent  renown  to  themselves, 
and  that  they  would  allow  me  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  city 
which  I  had  saved,  and  a  tranquil  and  quiet  mind?  What, 
however,  if  I  do  not  ask  this  1  what,  if  my  former  industry, 
my  anxiety,  my  assistance,  my  labor,  my  vigilance  is  still  at 
the  service  of  my  friends,  and  ready  at  the  call  of  every  one  ? 
If  my  friends  never  seek  in  vain  for  my  zeal  on  their  behalf 
in  the  forum,  nor  the  republic  in  the  senate-house ;  if  neither 
the  holiday  earned  by  my  previous  achievements,  nor  the  ex- 
cuse which  my  past  honors  or  my  present  age  might  supply  me 
with,  is  employed  to  save  me  from  trouble ;  if  my  good-will, 
my  industry,  my  house,  my  attention,  and  my  ears  are  always 
open  to  all  men ;  if  I  have  not  even  any  time  left  to  recollect 
and  think  over  those  things  which  I  have  done  for  the  safety 
of  the  whole  body  of  citizens ;  shall  this  still  be  called  kingly 
power,  when  no  one  can  possibly  be  found  who  would  act  as 
my  substitute  in  it  ?  All  suspicion  of  aiming  at  kingly  power 
is  very  far  removed  from  me.  If  you  ask  who  they  are  who 
have  endeavored  to  assume  kingly  power  in  Eome,  without 
unfolding  the  records  of  the  public  annals,  you  may  find  them 
among  the  images  in  your  own  house.  I  suppose  it  is  my 
achievements  which  have  unduly  elated  me,  and  have  inspired 
me  with  I  know  not  how  much  pride.  Concerning  which 
deeds  of  mine,  illustrious  and  immortal  as  they  are,  O  judges, 
1  can  say  thus  much — that  I,  who  have  saved  this  city,  and 


108  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  lives  of  all  the  citizens,  from  the  most  extreme  dangers, 
shall  have  gained  quite  reward  enough,  if  no  danger  arises 
to  myself  out  of  the  great  service  which  I  have  done  to  all 
men. 

In  truth,  I  recollect  in  what  state  it  is  that  I  have  done 
such  great  exploits,  and  in  what  city  I  am  living.  The  forum 
is  full  of  those  men  whom  I,  O  judges,  have  taken  off  from 
your  necks,  but  have  not  removed  from  my  own.  Unless  you 
think  that  they  were  only  a  few  men,  who  were  able  to  at- 
tempt or  to  hope  that  they  might  be  able  to  destroy  so  vast 
an  empire.  I  was  able  to  take  away  their  fire-brands,  to  wrest 
their  torches  from  their  hands,  as  I  did ;  but  their  wicked 
and  impious  inclinations  I  could  neither  cure  nor  eradicate. 
Therefore  I  am  not  ignorant  in  what  danger  I  am  living 
among  such  a  multitude  of  wicked  men,  since  I  see  that  I 
have  undertaken  single-handed  an  eternal  war  against  all 
wicked  men. 

X.  But  if,  perchance,  you  envy  that  means  of  protection 
which  I  have,  and  if  it  seems  to  you  to  be  of  a  kingly  sort — 
namely,  the  fact  that  all  good  men  of  all  ranks  and  classes 
consider  their  safety  as  bound  up  with  mine — comfort  your- 
self with  the  reflection  that  the  dispositions  of  all  wicked 
men  are  especially  hostile  to  and  furious  against  me  alone; 
and  they  hate  me,  not  only  because  I  repressed  their  profligate 
attempts  and  impious  madness,  but  still  more  because  they 
think  that,  as  long  as  I  am  alive,  they  can  attempt  nothing 
more  of  the  same  sort.  But  why  do  I  wonder  if  any  wicked 
thing  is  said  of  me  by  wicked  men,  where  Lucius  Torquatus 
himself,  after  having  in  the  first  place  laid  such  a  foundation 
of  virtue  as  he  did  in  his  youth,  after  having  proposed  to 
himself  the  hope  of  the  most  honorable  dignity  in  the  state, 
and,  in  the  second  place,  being  the  son  of  Lucius  Torquatus, 
a  most  intrepid  consul,  a  most  virtuous  senator,  and  at  all 
times  a  most  admirable  citizen,  is  sometimes  run  away  with 
by  impetuosity  of  language  1  For  when  he  had  spoken  in  a 
low  voice  of  the  wickedness  of  Publius  Lentulus,  and  of  the 
audacity  of  all  the  conspirators,  so  that  only  you,  who  ap- 
prove of  those  things,  could  bear  what  he  said,  he  spoke  with 
a  loud  querulous  voice  of  the  execution  of  Publius  Lentulus 
and  of  the  prison  ;  in  which  there  was,  first  of  all,  this  absurd- 
ity, that  when  he  wished  to  gain  your  approval  of  the  incon- 
siderate things  which  he  had  said,  but  did  not  wish  those 


FOR  P.  SYLLA  109 

men,  who  were  standing  around  the  tribunal,  to  hear  them, 
he  did  not  perceive  that,  while  he  was  speaking  so  loudly, 
those  men  whose  favor  he  was  seeking  to  gain  could  not 
hear  him,  without  your  hearing  him  too,  who  did  not  approve 
of  what  he  was  saying ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  a  great 
defect  in  an  orator  not  to  see  what  each  cause  requires.  For 
nothing  is  so  inconsistent,  as  for  a  man  who  is  accusing 
another  of  conspiracy,  to  appear  to  lament  the  punishment 
and  death  of  conspirators ;  which  is  not,  indeed,  strange  to 
any  one,  when  it  is  done  by  that  tribune  of  the  people  who 
appears  to  be  the  only  man  left  to  bewail  those  conspirators ; 
for  it  is  difficult  to  be  silent  when  you  are  really  grieved. 
But,  if  you  do  any  thing  of  that  sort,  I  do  greatly  marvel  at 
you,  not  only  because  you  are  such  a  young  man  as  you  are, 
but  because  you  do  it  in  the  very  cause  in  which  you  wish  to 
appear  as  a  punisher  of  conspiracy.  However,  what  I  find 
fault  with  most  of  all,  is  this :  that  you,  with  your  abilities 
and  your  prudence,  do  not  maintain  the  true  interest  of  the 
republic,  but  believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  those  actions  are 
not  approved  of  by  the  Roman  people,  which,  when  1  was  con- 
sul, were  done  by  all  virtuous  men,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
common  safety  of  all. 

XI.  Do  you  believe  that  any  one  of  those  men  who  are 
here  present,  into  whose  favor  you  were  seeking  to  insinuate 
yourself  against  their  will,  was  either  so  wicked  as  to  wish  all 
these  things  to  be  destroyed,  or  so  miserable  as  to  wish  to 
perish  himself,  and  to  have  nothing  which  he  wished  to  pre- 
serve? Is  there  any  one  who  blames  the  most  illustrious 
man  of  your  family  and  name,  who  deprived  his  own  son1  of 
life  in  order  to  strengthen  his  power  over  the  rest  of  hi? 
army ;  and  do  you  blame  the  republic  for  destroying  domestic 
enemies  in  order  to  avoid  being  herself  destroyed  by  them? 
Take  notice  then,  O  Torquatus,  to  what  extent  I  shirk  the 
avowal  of  the  actions  of  my  consulship.  I  speak,  and  I  always 
will  speak,  with  my  loudest  voice,  in  order  that  all  men  may 
be  able  to  hear  me :  be  present  all  of  you  with  your  minds, 
ye  who  are  present  with  your  bodies,  ye  in  whose  numerous 
attendance   I  take   great  pleasure ;  give   me  your   attention 

1  This  refers  to  the  story  of  Titus  Manlius  Torquatus,  who,  in  the 
Latin  war  (a.u.c.  415),  put  his  own  son  to  death  for  leaving  his  ranks  (in 
forgetfulness  of  a  general  order  issued  by  his  father  the  consul)  to  fight 
Geminius  Metius,  whom  he  slew.     The  story  is  told  by  Livy,  lib.  iii.  c  7. 


110  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  all  your  ears,  and  listen  to  me  while  I  speak  of  what 
he  believes  to  be  unpopular  topics.  I,  as  consul,  when  an 
army  of  abandoned  citizens,  got  together  by  clandestine 
wickedness,  had  prepared  a  most  cruel  and  miserable  destruc- 
tion for  my  country ;  when  Catiline  had  been  appointed  to 
manage  the  fall  and  ruin  of  the  republic  in  the  camp,  and 
when  Lentulus  was  the  leader  among  these  very  temples  and 
houses  around  us ;  I,  I  say,  by  my  labors,  at  the  risk  of  my 
own  life,  by  my  prudence,  without  any  tumult,  without 
making  any  extraordinary  levies,  without  arms,  without  an 
army,  having  arrested  and  executed  five  men,  delivered  the 
city  from  conflagration,  the  citizens  from  massacre,  Italy 
from  devastation,  the  republic  from  destruction.  I,  at  the 
price  of  the  punishment  of  five  frantic  and  ruined  men,  ran- 
somed the  lives  of  all  the  citizens,  the  constitution  of  the 
whole  world,  this  city,  the  home  of  all  of  us,  the  citadel  of 
foreign  kings  and  foreign  nations,  the  light  of  all  people,  the 
abode  of  empire.  Did  you  think  that  I  would  not  say  this 
in  a  court  of  justice  when  I  was  not  on  my  oath,  which  I  had 
said  before  now  in  a  most  numerous  assembly  when  speaking^- 
on  oath  ? 

XII.  And  I  will  say  this  further,  O  Torquatus,  to  prevent 
any  wicked  man  from  conceiving  any  sudden  attachment  to, 
or  any  sudden  hopes  of  you ;  and,  in  order  that  every  one 
may  hear  it,  I  will  say  it  as  loudly  as  I  can :  Of  all  those 
things  which  I  undertook  and  did  during  my  consulship  in 
defense  of  the  common  safety,  that  Lucius  Torquatus,  being 
my  constant  comrade  in  my  consulship,  and  having  been  so 
also  in  my  praetorship,  was  my  defender,  and  assistant,  and 
partner  in  my  actions ;  being  also  the  chief,  and  the  leader, 
and  the  standard-bearer  of  the  Roman  youth ;  and  his  father, 
a  man  most  devoted  to  his  country,  a  man  of  the  greatest 
courage,  of  the  most  consummate  political  wisdom,  and  of  sin- 
gular firmness,  though  he  was  sick,  still  was  constantly  present 
at  all  my  actions  ;  he  never  left  my  side :  he,  by  his  zeal  and 

1  This  refers  to  Cicero's  conduct  when  resigning  his  consulship.  Me- 
tellus,  as  has  been  said  before,  refused  to  allow  him  to  make  a  speech  to 
the  people,  because,  as  he  said,  he  had  put  Roman  citizens  to  death  with- 
out a  trial ;  on  which  Cicero,  instead  of  making  oath  in  the  ordinary  for- 
mula, that  he  had  discharged  his  duty  with  fidelity,  swore  with  a  loud 
voice  "that  the  republic  and  the  city  had  been  saved  by  his  unassisted 
labor  ;"  and  all  the  Roman  people  cried  out  with  one  voice  that  that  state- 
ment was  true  to  its  fullest  extent.     See  Cic.  in  Pis  3. 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  U\ 

wisdom  and  authority  was  of  the  very  greatest  assistance  to 
me,  overcoming  the  infirmity  of  his  body  by  the  vigor  of  hig 
mind.  Do  you  not  see  now,  how  I  deliver  you  from  the  dan- 
ger of  any  sudden  popularity  among  the  wicked,  and  reconcile 
you  to  all  good  men  ?  who  love  you,  and  cherish  you,  and  who 
always  will  cherish  you ;  nor,  if  perchance  you  for  a  while 
abandon  me,  will  they  on  that  account  allow  you  to  abandon 
them  and  the  republic  and  your  own  dignity. 

But  now  I  return  to  the  cause  ;  and  I  call  you,  O  judges, 
to  bear  witness  to  this — that  this  necessity  of  speaking  ox 
myself  was  imposed  on  me  by  him.  For  if  Torquatus  had 
been  content  with  accusing  Sylla,  I  too  at  the  present  time 
should  have  done  nothing  beyond  defending  him  who  had 
been  accused;  but  when  he,  in  his  whole  speech,  inveighed 
against  me,  and  when,  in  the  very  beginning,  as  I  said,  he 
sought  to  deprive  my  defense  of  all  authority,  even  if  my 
indignation  had  not  compelled  me  to  speak,  still  the  necessity 
of  doing  justice  to  my  cause  would  have  demanded  this  speech 
from  me. 

XIII.  You  say  that  Sylla  was  named  by  the  Allobroges. 
Who  denies  it  %  but  read  the  information,  and  see  how  he  was 
named.  They  said  that  Lucius  Cassius  had  said  that,  among 
other  men,  Autronius  was  favorable  to  their  designs.  I  ask, 
did  Cassius  say  that  Sylla  was?  Never.  They  say  that  they 
themselves  inquired  of  Cassius  what  Sylla' s  opinions  were. 
Observe  the  diligence  of  the  Gauls.  They,  knowing  nothing 
of  the  life  or  character  of  the  man,  but  only  having  heard 
that  he  and  Autronius  had  met  with  one  common  disaster, 
asked  whether  his  inclinations  were  the  same  ?  What  then  ? 
Even  if  Cassius  had  made  answer  that  Sylla  was  of  the  same 
opinion,  and  was  favorable  to  their  views,  still  it  would  not 
seem  to  me  that  that  reply  ought  to  be  made  matter  of  accu- 
sation against  him.  How  so  ?  Because,  as  it  was  his  object 
to  instigate  the  barbarians  to  war,  it  was  no  business  of  his 
to  weaken  their  expectations,  or  to  acquit  those  men  of  whom 
they  did  entertain  some  suspicions.  But  yet  he  did  not  reply 
that  Sylla  was  favorable  to  their  designs.  And,  in  truth,  it 
would  have  been  an  absurdity,  after  he  had  named  every  one 
else  of  his  own  accord,  to  make  no  mention  of  Sylla  till  he 
was  reminded  of  him  and  asked  about  him.  Unless  you 
think  this  probable,  that  Lucius  Cassius  had  quite  forgotten 
the  name  of  Publius  Sylla     Even  if  the  high  rank  of  the 


112  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

man,  and  his  unfortunate  condition,  and  the  relics  of  his  an- 
cient dignity,  had  not  made  him  notorious,  still  the  mention 
of  Autronius  must  have  recalled  Sylla  to  his  recollection.     In 
truth,  it  is  my  opinion,  that,  when  Cassius  was  enumerating 
the  authority  of  the  chief  men  of  the  conspiracy,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exciting  the  minds  of  the  Allobroges,  as  he  knew  that 
the  foreign   nations   are   especially   moved  by  an   illustrious 
name,  he  would  not  have  named  Autronius  before  Sylla,  if 
he  had  been  able  to  name  Sylla  at  all.     But  no  one  can  be 
induced  to  believe  this — that  the  Gauls,  the  moment  that  Au- 
tronius was  named,  should  have  thought,  on  account  of  the 
similarity  of  their  misfortunes,  that  it  was  worth  their  while 
to  make  inquiries  about  Sylla,  but  that  Cassius,  if  he  really 
was  implicated  in   this  wickedness,  should  never  have  once 
recollected  Sylla,  even  after  he  had  named  Autronius.     How- 
ever, what  was  the  reply  which  Cassius  made  about  Sylla? 
He  said  that  he  was  not  sure.      "  He  does  not  acquit  him," 
says  Torquatus.     I  have  said  before,  that,  even  if  he  had  ac- 
cused him,  when  he  was  interrogated  in  this  manner,  his  reply 
ought  not  to  have  been   made  matter  of  accusation  against 
Sylla.     But  I  think  that,  in  judicial  proceedings  and  exam- 
inations, the  thing  to  be  inquired  is,  not  whether  any  one  is 
exculpated,   but    whether    any   one   is   inculpated.      And  in 
truth,  when  Cassius  says  that  he  does  not  know,  is  he  seeking 
to  exculpate  Sylla,  or  proving  clearly  enough  that  he  really 
does  not  know?     He  is  unwilling  to  compromise  him  with 
the  Gauls.     Why  so  I     That  they  may  not  mention  him  in 
their  information  1     What  ?     If  he  had  supposed  that  there 
was  any  danger  of  their  ever  giving  any  information  at  all, 
would  he  have  made  that  confession  respecting  himself?     He 
did  not  know  it.     I  suppose,  O  judges,  Sylla  was  the  only  per- 
son about  whom  Cassius  was  kept  in  the  dark.    For  he  certain- 
ly was  well  informed  about  every  one  else ;  and  it  was  thor- 
oughly proved  that  a  great  deal  of  the  conspiracy  was  hatch- 
ed at  his  house.      As  he  did  not  like  to  deny  that  Sylla  made 
one  of  the  conspirators,  his  object  being  to  give  the  Gauls  as 
much  hope  as  possible,  and  as  he  did  not  venture  to  assert 
what  was  absolutely  false,  he  said  that  he  did  not  know.     But 
this  is  quite  evident,  that  as  he,  who  knew  the  truth  about 
every  one,  said  that  he  did  not  know  about  Sylla,  the  samo 
weight  is  due  to  this  denial  of  his  as  if  he  had  saM  that  he  did 
know  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  conspiracy.     Fo* 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  113 

•when  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  a  man  is  acquainted  with  all 
the  conspirators,  his  ignorance  of  any  one  ought  to  be  consid- 
ered an  acquittal  of  him.  But  I  am  not  asking  now  whether 
Cassius  acquits  Sylla  ;  this  is  quite  sufficient  for  me,  that  there 
is  not  one  word  to  implicate  Sylla  in  the  whole  information 
of  the  Allobroses. 

XIV.  Torquatus  being  cut  off  from  this  article  of  his  accu- 
sation, a^ain  turns  against  me,  and  accuses  me.  He  says  that 
I  have  made  an  entiy  in  the  public  registers  of  a  different 
statement  from  that  which  was  really  made.  O  ye  immortal 
gods  (for  I  will  give  you  what  belongs  to  you ;  nor  can  I 
attribute  so  much  to  my  own  ability,  as  to  think  that  I  was 
able,  in  that  most  turbulent  tempest  which  was  afflicting  the 
republic,  to  manage,  of  my  own  power,  so  many  and  such 
important  affairs — affairs  arising  so  unexpectedly,  and  of  such 
various  characters) !  it  was  you,  in  truth,  who  then  inflamed 
my  mind  with  the  desire  of  saving  my  country;  it  was  you 
who  turned  me  from  all  other  thoughts  to  the  one  idea  of 
preserving  the  republic ;  it  was  you  who,  amid  all  that  dark- 
ness of  error  and  ignorance,  held  a  bright  light  before  my 
mind !  I  saw  this,  O  judges,  that  unless,  while  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  senate  on  the  subject  was  still  fresh,  I  bore  evi- 
dence to  the  authority  and  to  the  particulars  of  this  informa- 
tion by  public  records,  hereafter  some  one,  not  Torquatus,  nor 
any  one  like  Torquatus  (for  in  that  indeed  I  have  been  much 
deceived),  but  some  one  who  had  lost  his  patrimony,  some 
enemy  of  tranquillity,  some  foe  to  all  good  men,  would  say 
that  the  information  given  had  been  different ;  in  order  the 
more  easily,  when  some  gale  of  odium  had  been  stirred  up 
against  all  virtuous  men,  to  be  able,  amid  the  misfortunes  of 
the  republic,  to  discover  some  harbor  for  his  own  broken 
vessel.  Therefore,  having  introduced  the  informers  into  the 
senate,  I  appointed  senators  to  take  down  every  statement 
made  by  the  informers,  every  question  that  was  asked,  and 
every  answer  that  was  given.  And  what  men  they  were ! 
Not  only  men  of  the  greatest  virtue  and  good  faith,  of  winch 
sort  of  men  there  are  plenty  in  the  senate,  but  men,  also, 
who  I  knew  from  their  memory,  from  their  knowledge,  from 
their  habit  and  rapidity  of  writing,  could  most  easily  follow 
every  thing  that  was  said.  I  selected  Caius  Cosconius,  who 
was  praetor  at  the  time  ;  Marcus  INlessala,  who  was  at  the  time 
standing  for  the  praetorship  ;  Publius  Nigidius,  and  Appius 


114  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Claudius.  I  believe  that  there  is  no  one  who  thinks  that  these 
men  were  deficient  either  in  the  good  faith  or  in  the  ability 
requisite  to  enable  them  to  give  an  accurate  report. 

XV.  What  followed?  What  did  I  do  next?  As  I  knew 
that  the  information  was  by  these  means  entered  among  the 
public  documents,  but  yet  that  those  records  would  be  kept  in 
the  custody  of  private  individuals,  according  to  the  customs  of 
our  ancestors,  I  did  not  conceal  it ;  I  did  not  keep  it  at  my 
own  house ;  but  I  caused  it  at  once  to  be  copied  out  by  sev- 
eral clerks,  and  to  be  distributed  every  where,  and  published 
and  made  known  to  the  Roman  people.  I  distributed  it  all 
over  Italy,  I  sent  copies  of  it  into  every  province ;  I  wish  no 
one  to  be  ignorant  of  that  information,  by  means  of  which 
safety  was  procured  for  all.  And  I  took  this  precaution, 
though  at  so  disturbed  a  time,  and  when  all  opportunities  of 
acting  were  so  sudden  and  so  brief,  at  the  suggestion  of  some 
divine  providence,  as  I  said  before,  and  not  of  my  own  accord, 
or  of  my  own  wisdom  ;  taking  care,  in  the  first  instance,  that 
no  one  should  be  able  to  recollect  of  the  danger  to  the  repub- 
lic, or  to  any  individual,  only  as  much  as  he  pleased  ;  and  in 
the  second  place,  that  no  one  should  be  able  at  any  time  to 
find  fault  with  that  information,  or  to  accuse  us  of  having  given 
credit  to  it  rashly ;  and  lastly,  that  no  one  should  ever  put  any 
questions  to  me,  or  seek  to  learn  any  thing  from  my  private 
journals,  lest  I  might  be  accused  of  either  forgetting  or  re- 
membering too  much,  and  lest  any  negligence  of  mine  should 
be  thought  discreditable,  or  lest  any  eagerness  on  my  part 
might  seem  cruel. 

But  still,  O  Torquatus,  I  ask  you,  as  your  enemy  was  men- 
tioned in  the  information,  and  as  a  full  senate  and  the  mem- 
ory of  all  men  as  to  so  recent  an  affair  was  a  witness  of  that 
fact ;  as  my  clerks  would  have  communicated  the  informa- 
tion to  you,  my  intimate  friend  and  companion,  if  you  had 
wished  for  it,  even  before  they  had  taken  a  copy  of  it ;  when 
you  saw  that  there  were  any  incorrectnesses  in  it,  why  were 
you  silent,  why  did  you  permit  them?  Why  did  you  not 
make  a  complaint  to  me  or  to  some  friend  of  mine  ?  or  Why 
did  you  not  at  least,  since  you  are  so  well  inclined  to  inveigh 
against  your  friends,  expostulate  passionately  and  earnestly 
with  me"?  Do  you,  when  your  voice  was  never  once  heard 
at  the  time,  when,  though  the  information  was  read,  and 
copied  out,  and  published,  you  kept  silence  then — do  you,  I 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  115 

&nv,  now  on  a  sudden  dare  to  bring  forward  a  statement  of 
such  importance?  and  to  place  yourself  in  such  a  position 
that,  before  you  can  convict  me  of  having  tampered  with  the 
information,  you  must  confess  that  you  are  convicted  yourself 
of  the  grossest  negligence,  on  your  own  information  laid  against 
yourself0? 

XVI.  Was  the  safety  of  any  one  of  such  consequence  to 
me  as  to  induce  me  to  forget  my  own?  or  to  make  me  con- 
taminate the  truth,  which  I  had  laid  open,  by  any  lie  ?  Or  do 
you  suppose  that  I  would  assist  any  one  by  whom  I  thought 
that  a  cruel  plot  had  been  laid  against  the  republic,  and  most 
especially  against  me  the  consul  1  But  if  I  had  been  forgetful 
of  my  own  severity  and  of  my  own  virtue,  was  I  so  mad,  as, 
when  letters  are  things  which  have  been  devised  for  the  sake 
of  posterity,  in  order  to  be  a  protection  against  forgetfulness, 
to  think  that  the  fresh  recollection  of  the  whole  senate  could 
be  beaten  down  by  my  journal  1  I  have  been  bearing  with 
you,  O  Torquatus,  for  a  long  time.  I  have  been  bearing  with 
you ;  and  sometimes  I,  of  my  own  accord,  call  back  and 
check  my  inclination,  when  it  has  been  provoked  to  chastise 
your  speech.  I  make  some  allowance  for  your  violent  tem- 
per, I  have  some  indulgence  for  your  youth,  I  yield  somewhat 
to  our  own  friendship,  I  have  some  regard  to  your  father. 
But  unless  you  put  some  restraint  upon  yourself,  you  will 
compel  me  to  forget  our  friendship,  in  order  to  pay  due  regard 
to  my  own  dignity.  No  one  ever  attempted  to  attach  the 
slightest  suspicion  to  me,  that  I  did  not  defeat  him ;  but  I 
wish  you  to  believe  me  in  this ;  those  whom  I  think  that  I 
can  defeat  most  easily,  are  not  those  whom  I  take  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  answering.  Do  you,  since  you  are  not  at  all  igno- 
rant of  my  ordinary  way  of  speaking,  forbear  to  abuse  my 
lenity.  Do  not  think  that  the  stings  of  my  eloquence  are 
taken  away,  because  they  are  sheathed.  Do  not  think  that 
that  power  has  been  entirely  lost,  because  I  show  some  con- 
sideration for,  and  indulgence  toward  you.  In  the  first  place, 
the  excuses  which  I  make  to  myself  for  your  injurious  con- 
duct, your  violent  temper,  your  age,  and  our  friendship,  have 
much  weight  with  me ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  I  do  not  yet 
consider  you  a  person  of  sufficient  power  to  make  it  worth 
my  while  to  contend  and  argue  with  you.  But  if  you  were 
more  capable  through  age  and  experience,  I  should  pursue 
the  conduct  which  is  habitual  to  me  when  I  have  been  pro- 


116  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

voked;  at  present  I  will  deal  with  you  in  such  a  way  that  1 
shall  seem  to  have  received  an  injury  rather  than  to  have  re- 
guited  one. 

XVII.  Nor,  indeed,  can  I  make  out  why  you  are  angry  with 
me.  If  it  is  because  I  am  defending  a  man  whom  you  are  ac- 
cusing, why  should  not  I  also  be  angry  with  you,  for  accusing 
a  man  whom  I  am  defending*?  "I,"  say  you,  "am  accusing 
my  enemy."  And  I  am  defending  my  friend.  "But  you 
ought  not  to  defend  any  one  who  is  being  tried  for  conspira- 
cy." On  the  contrary,  no  one  ought  to  be  more  prompt  to  de- 
fend a  man  of  whom  he  has  never  suspected  any  ill,  than  he 
who  has  had  many  reasons  for  forming  opinions  about  other 
men.  "Why  did  you  give  evidence  against  others?"  Be- 
cause I  was  compelled.  "Why  were  they  convicted?"  Be- 
cause my  evidence  was  believed.  "  It  is  behaving  like  a  king 
to  speak  against  whomsoever  you  please,  and  to  defend  whom- 
soever you  please."  Say,  rather,  that  it  is  slavery  not  to  be 
able  to  speak  against  any  one  you  choose,  and  to  defend  any 
one  you  choose.  And  if  you  begin  to  consider  whether  it  was 
more  necessary  for  me  to  do  this,  or  for  you  to  do  that,  you 
will  perceive  that  you  could  with  more  credit  fix  a  limit  to 
your  enmities  than  I  could  to  my  humanity. 

But  when  the  greatest  honors  of  your  family  were  at  stake, 
that  is  to  say,  the  consulship  of  your  father,  that  wise  man 
your  father  was  not  angry  with  his  most  intimate  friends  for 
defending  and  praising  Sylla.  He  was  aware  that  this  was  a 
principle  handed  down  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  that  we  were 
not  to  be  hindered  by  our  friendship  for  any  one,  from  ward- 
ing off  dangers  from  others.  And  yet  that  contest  was  far 
from  resembling  this  trial.  Then,  if  Publius  Sylla  could  bo 
put  down,  the  consulship  would  be  procured  for  your  father, 
as  it  was  procured  ;  it  was  a  contest  of  honor ;  you  were  cry- 
ing out,  that  you  were  seeking  to  recover  what  had  been  taken 
from  you,  in  order  that,  having  been  defeated  in  the  Campus 
Martius,  you  might  succeed  in  the  forum.  Then,  those  who 
were  contending  against  you  for  Sylla' s  safety,  your  greatest 
friends,  with  whom  you  were  not  angry  on  that  account, 
deprived  you  of  the  consulship,  resisted  your  acquisition  of 
honor;  and  yet  they  did  so  without  any  rupture  of  your  mu- 
tual friendship,  without  violating  any  duty,  according  to  an- 
cient precedent  and  the  established  principles  of  every  good 
man 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  117 

XVm.  But  now  what  promotion  of  yours  am  I  opposing  ? 
or  what  dignity  of  yours  am  I  throwing  obstacles  in  the  way 
of?  What  is  there  which  you  can  at  present  seek  from  this 
proceeding?  Honor  has  been  conferred  on  your  father;  the 
insignia  of  honor  have  descended  to  you.  You,  adorned  with 
his  spoils,  come  to  tear  the  body  of  him  whom  you  have  slain  ; 
I  am  defending  and  protecting  him  who  is  lying  prostrate  and 
stripped  of  his  arms.  And  on  this  you  find  fault  with  me, 
and  are  angry  because  I  defend  him.  But  I  not  only  am  not 
angry  with  you,  but  I  do  not  even  find  fault  with  your  pro- 
ceeding For  I  imagine  that  you  have  laid  down  a  rule  for 
yourself  as  to  what  you  thought  that  you  ought  to  do,  and 
that  you  have  appointed  a  very  capable  judge  of  your  duty. 
"  Oh,  but  the  son  of  Caius  Cornelius  accuses  him,  and  that 
ought  to  have  the  same  weight  as  if  his  father  had  given  in- 
formation against  him."  O  wise  Cornelius — the  father,  I  mean 
— who  left  all  the  reward  which  is  usually  given  for  informa- 
tion, but  has  got  all  the  discredit  which  a  confession  can  in- 
volve, through  the  accusation  brought  by  his  son  !  However, 
what  is  it  that  Cornelius  gives  information  of  by  the  mouth  of 
that  boy  !  If  it  is  a  part  of  the  business  which  is  unknown 
to  me,  but  which  has  been  communicated  to  Hortensius,  let 
Hortensius  reply.  If,  as  you  say,  his  statement  concerns  that 
crew  of  Autronius  and  Catiline,  when  they  intended  to  commit 
a  massacre  in  the  Campus  Martius,  at  the  consular  comitia, 
which  were  held  by  me ;  we  saw  Autronius  that  day  in  the 
Campus.  And  why  do  I  say  we  saw  f  I  myself  saw  him 
(for  you  at  that  time,  O  judges,  had  no  anxiety,  no  suspicions  ; 
I,  protected  by  a  firm  guard  of  friends  at  that  time,  checked 
me  forces  and  the  endeavors  of  Catiline  and  Autronius).  Is 
there,  then,  any  one  who  says  that  Sylla  at  that  time  had  any 
idea  of  coming  into  the  Campus  !  And  yet,  if  at  that  time  he 
hacl  united  himself  with  Catiline  in  that  society  of  wickedness, 
why  did  he  leave  him  1  why  was  not  he  with  Autronius  1  why, 
when  their  cases  were  similar,  are  -not  similar  proofs  of  crim- 
inality found  !  But  since  Cornelius  himself  even  now  hesitates 
about  giving  information  against  him,  he,  as  you  say,  contents 
himself  with  filling  up  the  outline  of  his  son's  information. 
"What  then  does  he  say  about  that  night,  when,  according  to 
the  orders  of  Catiline,  he  came  into  the  Scythe-makers' l  street, 
to  the  house  of  Marcus  Lecca,  that  night  which  followed  the 

1  This  was  the  name  of  a  street. 


;i&  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

sixth  of  November,  in  my  consulship  !  that  night  which  of  all 
the  moments  of  the  conspiracy  was  the  most  terrible  and  the 
most  miserable.  Then  the  day  in  which  Catiline  should  leave 
the  city,  then  the  terms  on  which  the  rest  should  remain  be- 
hind, then  the  arrangement  and  division  of  the  whole  city,  with 
regard  to  the  conflagration  and  the  massacre,  was  settled. 
Then  your  father,  O  Cornelius,  as  he  afterward  confessed,  beg- 
ged for  himself  that  especial  employment  of  going  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning  to  salute  me  as  consul,  in  order  that, 
having  been  admitted,  according  to  my  usual  custom  and  to 
the  privilege  which  his  friendship  with  me  gave  him,  he  might 
slay  me  in  my  bed. 

XIX.  At  this  time,  when  the  conspiracy  was  at  its  height ; 
when  Catiline  was  starting  for  the  army,  and  Lentulus  was 
being  left  in  the  city ;  when  Cassius  was  being  appointed  to 
superintend  the  burning  of  the  city,  and  Cethegus  the  mas- 
sacre ;  when  Autronius  had  the  part  allotted  to  him  of 
occupying  Italy ;  when,  in  short,  every  thing  was  being  ar- 
ranged, and  settled,  and  prepared  ;  where,  O  Cornelius,  was 
Sylla  I  Was  he  at  Rome  1  No,  he  was  very  far  away.  Was 
he  in  those  districts  to  which  Catiline  was  betaking  himself  ! 
PL*  was  still  farther  from  them.  Was  he  in  the  Camertine, 
or  Picenian,  or  Gallic  district  1  lands  which  the  disease,  as  it 
were,  of  that  phrensy  had  infected  most  particularly.  Noth- 
ing is  further  from  the  truth ;  for  he  was,  as  I  have  said  al- 
ready, at  Naples.  He  was  in  that  part  of  Italy  which  above 
all  others  was  free  from  all  suspicion  of  being  implicated  in 
that  business.  What  then  does  he  state  in  his  information,  or 
what  does  he  allege — I  mean  Cornelius,  or  you  who  bring 
these  messages  from  him  ?  He  says  that  gladiators  were 
bought,  under  pretense  of  some  games  to  be  exhibited  by 
Faustus,  for  the  purposes  of  slaughter  and  tumult.  Just  so ; 
the  gladiators  are  mentioned  whom  we  know  that  he  was 
bound  to  provide  according  to  his  father's  will.  "But  he 
seized  on  a  whole  household  of  gladiators  ;  and  if  he  had 
left  that  alone,  some  other  troop  might  have  discharged  the 
duty  to  which  Faustus  was  bound."  I  wish  this  troop 
could  satisfy  not  only  the  envy  of  parties  unfavorable  to* 
him,  but  even  the  expectations  of  reasonable  men.  "  He 
was  in  a  desperate  hurry,  when  the  time  for  the  exhibition 
was  still  far  oiF."  As  if,  in  reality,  the  time  for  the  exhi- 
bition was  not  drawing  very  near.     This  household  of  slavea 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  119 

was  got  without  Faustus  having  any  idea  of  such  a  step  ; 
for  he  neither  knew  of  it,  nor  wished  it.  But  there  are 
letters  of  Faustus's  extant,  in  which  he  begs  and  prays 
Publius  Sylla  to  buy  gladiators,  and  to  buy  this  very  troop : 
and  not  only  were  such  letters  sent  to  Publius  Sylla,  but 
they  were  sent  also  to  Lucius  Caesar,  to  Quintus  Pompeius, 
and  to  Caius  Memmius,  by  whose  advice  the  whole  busi- 
ness was  managed.  But  Cornelius1  was  appointed  to  man- 
age the  troop.  If  in  the  respect  of  the  purchase  of  this 
household  of  gladiators  no  suspicion  attaches  to  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  certainly  can  make  no  difference  that  he  was 
appointed  to  manage  them  afterward.  But  still,  he  in  real- 
ity only  discharged  the  servile  duty  of  providing  them  with 
arms ;  but  he  never  did  superintend  the  men  themselves ; 
that  duty  was  always  discharged  by  Balbus,  a  freedman  of 
Faustus. 

XX.  But  Sittius  was  sent  by  him  into  farther  Spain,  in 
order  to  excite  sedition  in  that  province.  In  the  first  place, 
O  judges,  Sittius  departed,  in  the  consulship  of  Lucius  Julius 
and  Caius  Figulus,  some  time  before  this  mad  business  of 
Catiline's,  and  before  there  was  any  suspicion  of  this  con- 
spiracy. In  the  second  place,  he  did  not  go  there  for  the  first 
time,  but  he  had  already  been  there  several  years  before,  for 
the  same  purpose  that  he  went  now.  And  he  went,  not  only 
with  an  object,  but  with  a  necessary  object,  having  some  im- 
portant accounts  to  settle  with  the  king  of  Mauritania.  But 
then,  after  he  was  gone,  as  Sylla  managed  his  affairs  as  his 
agent,  he  sold  many  of  the  most  beautiful  farms  of  Publius 
Sittius,  and  by  this  means  paid  his  debts ;  so  that  the  motive 
which  drove  the  rest  to  this  wickedness,  the  desire,  namely,  of 
retaining  their  possessions,  did  not  exist  in  the  case  of  Sittiusr 
who  had  diminished  his  landed  property  to  pay  his  debts. 
But  now,  how  incredible,  how  absurd  is  the  idea  that  a  man 
who  wished  to  make  a  massacre  at  Rome,  and  to  burn  down 
this  city,  should  let  his  most  intimate  friend  depart,  should 
send  him  away  into  the  most  distant  countries !  Did  he  so  in 
order  the  more  easily  to  effect  what  he  was  endeavoring  to 
do  at  Rome,  if  there  were  seditions  in  Spain  ?  "  But  these 
things  were  done  independently,  and  had  no  connection  with 
one  another."     Is  it  possible,  then,  that  he  should  have  thought 

1  This  Cornelius  is  not  the  Roman  knight  mentioned  before,  but  some 
freedman  of  Publius  Sylla. 


120  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

it  desirable,  when  engaged  in  such  important  affairs,  in  such 
novel,  and  dangerous,  and  seditious  designs,  to  send  away  a 
man  thoroughly  attached  to  himself,  his  most  intimate  friend, 
one  connected  with  himself  by  reciprocal  good  offices  and  by 
constant  intercourse  ?  It  is  not  probable  that  he  should  send 
away,  when  in  difficulty,  and  in  the  midst  of  troubles  of  his  own 
raising,  the  man  whom  he  had  always  kept  with  him  in  times 
of  prosperity  and  tranquillity. 

But  is  Sittius  himself  (for  I  must  not  desert  the  cause  of  my 
old  friend  and  host)  a  man  of  such  a  character,  or  of  such  a 
family  and  such  a  school,  as  to  allow  us  to  believe  that  he 
wished  to  make  war  on  the  republic?  Can  we  believe  that 
he,  whose  father,  when  all  our  other  neighbors  and  borderers 
revolted  from  us,  behaved  with  singular  duty  and  loyalty  to 
our  republic,  should  think  it  possible  himself  to  undertake  a 
nefarious  war  against  his  country?  A  man  whose  debts  we 
see  were  contracted,  not  out  of  luxury,  but  from  a  desire  to 
increase  his  property,  which  led  him  to  involve  himself  in  bus- 
iness ;  and  who,  though  he  owed  debts  at  Eome,  had  very 
large  debts  owing  to  him  in  the  provinces  and  in  the  confeder- 
ate kingdoms ;  and  when  he  was  applying  for  them  he  would 
not  allow  his  agents  to  be  put  in  any  difficulty  by  his  absence, 
but  preferred  having  all  his  property  sold,  and  being  stripped 
himself  of  a  most  beautiful  patrimony,  to  allowing  any  delay 
to  take  place  in  satisfying  his  creditors.  And  of  men  of  that 
sort  I  never,  O  judges,  had  any  fear  when  I  was  in  the  mid- 
dle of  that  tempest  which  afflicted  the  republic.  The  sort  of 
men  who  were  formidable  and  terrible,  were  those  who  clung 
to  their  property  with  such  affection  that  you  would  say  it 
was  easier  to  tear  their  limbs  from  them  than  their  lands  ;  but 
Sittius  never  thought  that  there  was  such  a  relationship  be- 
tween him  and  his  estates ;  and  therefore  he  cleared  himself, 
not  only  from  all  suspicion  of  Such  wickedness  as  theirs,  but 
even  from  being  talked  about,  not  by  arms,  but  at  the  expense 
of  his  patrimony. 

XXI.  But  now,  as  to  what  he  adds,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Pompeii  were  excited  by  Sylla  to  join  that  conspiracy  and 
that  abominable  wickedness,  what  sort  of  statement  that  is  I 
am  quite  unable  to  understand.  Do  the  people  of  Pompeii 
appear  to  have  joined  the  conspiracy  ?  Who  has  ever  said  so  ? 
or  when  was  there  the  slightest  suspicion  of  this  fact?  "He 
separated  then,"  says  he,  "  from  the  settlers,  in  order  that  when 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  121 

he  had  excited  dissensions  and  divisons  within,  he  might  be 
able  to  have  the  town  and  nation  of  Pompeii  in  his  power." 
In  the  first  place,  every  circumstance  of  the  dissension  be- 
tween the  natives  of  Pompeii  and  the  settlers  was  referred  to 
the  patrons  of  the  town,  being  a  matter  of  long  standing,  and 
having  been  going  on  many  years.  In  the  second  place,  the 
matter  was  investigated  by  the  patrons  in  such  a  way,  that 
Sylla  did  not  in  any  particular  disagree  with  the  opinions  of 
the  others.  And  lastly,  the  settlers  themselves  understand 
that  the  natives  of  Pompeii  were  not  more  defended  by  Sylla 
than  they  themselves  were.  And  this,  O  judges,  you  may 
ascertain  from  the  number  of  settlers,  most  honorable  men, 
here  present ;  who  are  here  now,  and  are  anxious  and  above 
all  things  desirous  that  the  man,  the  patron,  the  defender, 
the  guardian  of  that  colony  (if  they  have  not  been  able 
to  see  him  in  the  safe  enjoyment  of  every  sort  of  good  for- 
tune and  every  honor),  may  at  all  events,  in  the  present  mis- 
fortune by  which  he  is  attacked,  be  defended  and  preserved 
by  your  means.  The  natives  of  Pompeii  are  here  also  with 
equal  eagerness,  who  are  accused  as  well  as  he  is  by  the  pros- 
ecutors ;  men  whose  differences  with  the  settlers  about  walks 
and  about  votes  have  not  gone  to  such  lengths  as  to  make 
them  differ  also  about  their  common  safety.  And  even 
this  virtue  of  Publius  Sylla  appears  to  me  to  be  one  which 
ought  not  to  be  passed  over  in  silence  ;  that  though  that  col- 
ony was  originally  settled  by^  him,  and  though  the  fortune 
of  the  Roman  people  has  separated  the  interests  of  the  set- 
tlers from  the  fortunes  of  the  native  citizens  of  Pompeii,  he 
is  still  so  popular  among,  and  so  much  beloved  by  both  par- 
ties, that  he  seems  not  so  much  to  have  dispossessed  the  one 
party  of  their  lands  as  to  have  settled  both  of  them  in  that 
country. 

XXII.  "  But  the  gladiators,  and  all  those  preparations  for 
violence,  were  got  together  because  of  the  motion  of  Crecil- 
ius."  And  then  he  inveighed  bitterly  against  Cascilius,  a 
most  virtuous  and  most  accomplished  man,  of  whose  virtue 
and  constancy,  O  judges,  I  will  only  say  thus  much — that  he 
behaved  in  such  a  manner  with  respect  to  that  motion  which 
he  brought  forward,  not  for  the  purpose  of  doing  away  with, 
but  only  of  relieving  his  brother's  misfortune,  that,  though  he 
wished  to  consult  his  brother's  welfare,  he  was  unwilling  to 
oppose  the  interests  of  the  republic ;    he  proposed  his  law 

F 


122  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

under  the  impulse  of  brotherly  affection,  and  he  abandoned  it 
because  he  was  dissuaded  from  it  by  his  brother's  authority. 
And  Sylla  is  accused  by  Lucius  Ca3cilius,  in  that  business  in 
which  both  of  them  deserve  praise.     In  the  first  place,  Caecil- 
ius,  for  having  proposed  a  law  by  which  he  appeared  to  wish 
to  rescind  an  unjust  decision ;  and  Sylla,  who  reproved  him, 
and  chose  to  abide  by  the  decision.     For  the  constitution  of 
the  republic  derives  its  principal  consistency  from  formal  legal 
decisions.     Nor  do  I  think  that  any  one  ought  to  yield  so 
much  to  his  love  for  his  brother  as  to  think  only  of  the  wel- 
fare of  his  own  relations,  and  to  neglect  the  common  safety 
of  all.     He  did  not  touch  the  decision  already  given,  but  he 
took  away  the  punishment  for  bribery  which  had  been  lately 
established  by  recent  laws.     And,  therefore,  by  this  motion 
he  was  seeking,  not  to  rescind  a  decision,  but  to  correct  a  de- 
fect in  the  law.     When  a  man  is  complaining  of  a  penalty,  it 
is  not  the  decision  with  which  he  is  finding  fault,  but  the  law. 
For  the  conviction  is  the  act  of  judges,  and  that  is  let  stand; 
the  penalty  is  the  act  of  the  law,  and  that  may  be  lightened. 
Do  not,  therefore,  alienate  from  your  cause  the  inclinations 
of  those  orders  of  men  which  preside  over  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice with  the  greatest  authority  and  dignity.     No  one  has  at- 
tempted to  annul  the  decision  which  has  been  given ;  noth- 
ing of  that  sort  has  been  proposed.     What  Cascilius  always 
thought  while  grieved  at  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  his 
brother,  was,  that  the  power  of  the  judges  ought  to  be  pre- 
served unimpaired,  but  that  the  severity  of  the  law  required  to 
be  mitigated. 

XXIII.  But  why  need  I  say  more  on  this  topic  ?  I  might 
speak  perhaps,  and  I  would  speak  willingly  and  gladly,  if 
affection  and  fraternal  love  had  impelled  Lucius  Cascilius  a 
little  beyond  the  limits  which  regular  and  strict  duty  requires 
of  a  man ;  I  would  appeal  to  your  feelings,  I  would  invoke 
the  affection  which  every  one  feels  for  his  own  relations;  I 
would  solicit  pardon  for  the  error  of  Lucius  Crecilius,  from 
your  own  inmost  thoughts  and  from  the  common  humanity  of 
all  men.  The  law  was  proposed  only  a  few  days  ;  it  was  nev- 
er begun  to  be  put  in  train  to  be  carried ;  it  was  laid  on  the 
table  in  the  senate.  On  the  first  of  January,  when  we  had 
summoned  the  senate  to  meet  in  the  Capitol,  nothing  took  pre- 
cedence of  it ;  and  Quintus  Metellus  the  prsetor  said,  that  what 
he  was  saying  was  by  the  command  of  Sylla ;  that  Sylla  did 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  123 

not  wish  such  a  motion  to  be  brought  forward  respecting  his 
case.  From  that  time  forward  Caecilius  applied  himself  to 
many  measures  for  the  advantage  of  the  republic  ;  he  declared 
that  he  by  his  intercession  would  stop  the  agrarian  law,  which 
was  in  every  part  of  it  denounced  and  defeated  by  me.  He 
resisted  infamous  attempts  at  corruption  ;  he  never  threw  any 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  authority  of  the  senate.  He  be- 
haved himself  in  his  tribuneship  in  such  a  manner,  that,  lay- 
ing aside  all  regard  for  his  own  domestic  concerns,  he  thought 
of  nothing  for  the  future  but  the  welfare  of  the  republic.  And 
even  in  regard  to  this  very  motion,  who  was  there  of  us  who 
had  any  fears  of  Sylla  or  Csecilius  attempting  to  cany  any 
point  by  violence  ?  Did  not  all  the  alarm  that  existed  at  that 
time,  all  the  fear  and  expectation  of  sedition,  arise  from  the 
villainy  of  Autronius  ?  It  was  his  expressions  and  his  threats 
which  were  bruited  abroad  ;  it  was  the  sight  of  him,  the  mul- 
titudes that  thronged  to  him,  the  crowd  that  escorted  him,  and 
the  bands  of  his  abandoned  followers,  that  caused  all  the  fear 
of  sedition  which  agitated  us.  Therefore,  Publius  Sylla,  as 
this  most  odious  man  was  then  his  comrade  and  partner,  not 
only  in  honor  but  also  in  misfortune,  was  compelled  to  lose  his 
own  good  f&rtune,  and  to  remain  under  a  cloud  without  any 
remedy  or  alleviation. 

4r^^rr«  At  this  point  you  are  constantly  reading  passages 
from  my  letter,  which  I  sent  to  Cnaeus  Pompeius  about  my 
own  achievements,  and  about  the  general  state  of  the  republic  ; 
and  out  of  it  you  seek  to  extract  some  charge  against  Publius 
Sylla.  And  because  I  wrote  that  an  attempt  of  incredible 
madness,  conceived  two  years  before,  had  broken  out  in  my 
consulship,  you  say  that  I,  by  this  expression,  have  proved 
that  Sylla  was  in  the  former  conspiracy.  I  suppose  I  think 
that  Cnseus  Piso,  and  Catiline,  and  Yargunteius  were  not  able 
to  do  any  wicked  or  audacious  act  by  themselves,  without  the 
aid  of  Publius  Sylla !  But  even  if  any  one  had  had  a  doubt 
on  that  subject  before,  would  he  have  thought  (as  you  accuse 
him  of  having  done)  of  descending,  after  the  murder  of  your 
father,  who  was  then  consul,  into  the  Campus  on  the  first  of 
January  with  the  lictors  !  This  suspicion,  in  fact,  you  removed 
yourself,  when  you  said  that  he  had  prepared  an  armed  band 
and  cherished  violent  designs  against  your  father,  in  order  to 
make  Catiline  consul.  And  if  I  grant  you  this,  then  you  must 
grant  to  me  that  Sylla,  when  he  was  voting  for  Catiline,  had 


124  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

no  thoughts  of  recovering  by  violence  his  own  consulship, 
which  he  had  lost  by  a  judicial  decision.  P'or  his  character  is 
not  one,  O  judges,  which  is  at  all  liable  to  the  imputation  of 
such  enormous,  of  such  atrocious  crimes. 

For  I  will  now  proceed,  after  I  have  refuted  all  the  charges 
against  him,  by  an  arrangement  contrary  to  that  which  is 
usually  adopted,  to  speak  of  the  general  course  of  life  and 
habits  of  my  client.  In  truth,  at  the  beginning  I  was  eager  to 
encounter  the  greatness  of  the  accusation,  to  satisfy  the  expect- 
ations of  men,  and  to  say  something  also  of  myself,  since  I  too 
had  been  accused.  But  now  I  must  call  you  back  to  that  point 
to  which  the  cause  itself,  even  if  I  said  nothing,  would  compel 
you  to  direct  all  your  attention. 

XXV.  In  every  case,  O  judges,  which  is  of  more  serious 
importance  than  usual,  we  must  judge  a  good  deal  as  to  what 
every  one  has  wished,  or  intended,  or  done,  not  from  the 
counts  of  the  indictment,  but  from  the  habits  of  the  person 
who  is  accused.  For  no  one  of  us  can  have  his  character 
modeled  in  a  moment,  nor  can  any  one's  course  of  life  be 
altered,  or  his  natural  disposition  changed  on  a  sudden.  Sur- 
vey for  a  moment  in  your  mind's  eye,  O  judges  (to  say  no- 
thing of  other  instances),  these  very  men  who  were  implicated 
in  this  wickedness.  Catiline  conspired  against  the  republic. 
Whose  ears  were  ever  unwilling  to  believe  in  this  attempt 
on  the  part  of  a  man  who  had  spent  his  whole  life,  from 
his  boyhood  upward,  not  only  in  intemperance  and  debauch- 
ery, but  who  had  devoted  all  his  energies  and  all  his  zeal 
to  every  sort  of  enormity,  and  lust,  and  bloodshed  1  "Who 
marveled  that  that  man  died  fighting  against  his  country, 
whom  all  men  had  always  thought  born  for  civil  war?  "Who 
is  there  that  recollects  the  way  in  which  Lentulus  was  a  part- 
ner of  informers,  or  the  insanity  of  his  caprices,  or  his  perverse 
and  impious  superstition,  who  can  wonder  that  he  cherished 
either  wicked  designs,  or  insane  hopes  ?  Who  ever  thinks  of 
Caius  Cethegus  and  his  expedition  into  Spain,  and  the  wound 
inflicted  on  Quintus  Metellus  Pius,  without  seeing  that  a 
prison  was  built  on  purpose  to  be  the  scene  of  his  punishment  1 
I  say  nothing  of  the  rest,  that  there  may  be  some  end  to  my 
instances.  I  only  ask  you,  silently  to  recollect  all  those  men 
who  are  proved  to  have  been  in  this  conspiracy.  You  will 
see  that  every  one  of  those  men  was  convicted  by  his  own 
manner  of  life,  before  he  was  condemned  by  our  suspicion. 


FOR  P.  SYLLA  12,1 

And  as  for  Autronius  himself  (since  his  name  is  the  most 
nearly  connected  with  the  danger  in  which  my  client  is,  and 
with  the  accusation  which  is  brought  against  him),  did  not 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  spent  all  his  early  life  convict 
him  ?  He  had  always  been  audacious,  violent,  profligate.  We 
know  that  in  defending  himself  in  charges  of  adultery,  he  was 
accustomed  to  use  not  only  the  most  infamous  language,  but 
even  his  fists  and  his  feet.  We  know  that  he  had  been  ac- 
customed to  drive,  men  from  their  estates,  to  murder  his  neigh- 
bors, to  plunder  the  temples  of  the  allies,  to  disturb  the  courts 
of  justice  by  violence  and  arms ;  in  prosperity  to  despise  every 
body,  in  adversity  to  fight  against  all  good  men ;  never  to 
regard  the  interests  of  the  republic,  and  not  to  yield  even  to 
fortune  herself.  Even  if  he  were  not  convicted  by  the  most 
irresistible  evidence,  still  his  own  habits  and  his  past  life  would 
convict  him. 

XXVI.  Come  now,  compare  with  those  men  the  life  of  Pub- 
lius  Sylla,  well  known  as  it  is  to  you  and  to  all  the  Roman 
people ;  and  place  it,  O  judges,  as  it  were  before  your  eyes. 
Has  there  ever  been  any  act  or  exploit  of  his  which  has  seemed 
to  any  one,  I  will  not  say  audacious,  but  even  rather  inconsid- 
erate %  Do  I  say  any  act  ?  Has  any  word  ever  fallen  from  his 
lips  by  which  any  one  could  be  offended  ?  Ay,  even  in  that 
terrible  and  disorderly  victory  of  Lucius  SyTla,  wrho  was  found 
more  gentle  or  more  merciful  than  Publius  Sylla?  How 
many  men's  wives  did  he  not  save  by  begging  them  of  Luciua 
Sylla !  How  many  men  are  there  of  the  highest  rank  and  of 
the  greatest  accomplishments,  both  of  our  order  and  of  the 
equestrian  body,  for  whose  safety  he  laid  himself  under  obliga- 
tions to  Lucius  Sylla !  whom  I  might  name,  for  they  have  no 
objection  ;  indeed  they  are  here  to  countenance  him  now,  with 
the  most  grateful  feelings  toward  him.  But,  because  that 
service  is  a  greater  one  than  one  citizen  ought  to  be  able  to  do 
to  another,  I  entreat  of  you  to  impute  to  the  times  the  fact 
of  his  having  such  power,  but  to  give  him  himself  the  credit 
due  to  his  having  exerted  it  in  such  a  manner.  Why  need 
I  speak  of  the  other  virtues  of  his  life  ?  of  his  dignity  ?  of  his 
liberality?  of  his  moderation  in  his  own  private  affairs?  of  his 
splendor  on  public  occasions?  For,  though  in  these  points  he 
has  been  crippled  by  fortune,  yet  the  good  foundations  laid  by 
nature  are  visible.  What  a  house  was  his !  what  crowds  fre- 
quented it  daily !     How  great  was  the  dignity  of  his  behavktf 


126  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

to  his  friends !  How  great  was  their  attachment  to  him ! 
What  a  multitude  of  friends  had  he  of  every  order  of  the  peo- 
ple !  These  things,  which  had  been  built  up  by  long  time 
and  much  labor,  one  single  hour  deprived  him  of.  Publius 
Sylla,  O  judges,  received  a  terrible  and  a  mortal  wound ;  but 
still  it  was  an  injury  of  such  a  sort  as  his  way  of  life  and  his 
natural  disposition  might  seem  liable  to  be  exposed  to.  He 
was  judged  to  have  too  great  a  desire  for  honor  and  dignity. 
If  no  one  else  was  supposed  to  have  such  desires  in  standing 
for  the  consulship,  then  he  was  judged  to  be  more  covetous 
than  the  rest.  But  if  this  desire  for  the  consulship  has  exist- 
ed in  some  other  men  also,  then,  perhaps,  fortune  was  a  little 
more  unfavorable  to  him  than  to  others.  But,  after  this  mis- 
fortune, who  ever  saw  Publius  Sylla  otherwise  than  grieving, 
dejected,  and  out  of  spirits  ?  Who  ever  suspected  that  he 
was  avoiding  the  sight  of  men  and  the  light  of  day,  out  of  ha- 
tred, and  not  rather  out  of  shame?  For,  though  he  had 
many  temptations  to  frequent  this  city  and  the  forum,  by  rea- 
son of  the  great  attachment  of  his  friends  to  him — the  only 
consolation  which  remained  to  him  in  his  misfortunes — still  he 
kept  out  of  your  sight ;  and  though  he  might  have  remained 
here,  as  far  as  the  law  went,  he  almost  condemned  himself  to 
banishment. 

XXVII.  In  such  modest  conduct  as  this,  O  judges,  and  in 
such  a  life  as  this,  will  you  believe  that  there  was  any  room 
left  for  such  enormous  wickedness?  Look  at  the  man  him- 
self; behold  his  countenance.  Compare  the  accusation  with 
his  course  of  life.  Compare  his  life,  which  has  been  laid  open 
before  you  from  his  birth  up  to  this  day,  with  this  accusation. 
I  say  nothing  of  the  republic,  to  which  Sylla  has  always  been 
most  devoted.  Did  he  wish  these  friends  of  his,  being  such 
men  as  they  are,  so  attached  to  him,  by  whom  his  prosperity 
had  been  formerly  adorned,  by  whom  his  adversity  is  now 
comforted  and  relieved,  to  perish  miserably,  in  order  that  he 
himself  might  be  at  liberty  to  pass  a  most  miserable  and 
infamous  existence  in  company  with  Lentulus,  and  Catiline, 
and  Cethegus,  with  no  other  prospect  for  the  future  but  a 
disgraceful  death?  That  suspicion  is  not  consistent  —  it  is, 
I  sav,  utterly  at  variance  with  such  habits,  with  such  modesty. 
with  Mich  a  life  as  his,  with  the  man  himself.  That  sprang 
up,  a  perfectly  unexampled  sort  of  barbarity  :  it  A\as  an  incred- 
ible and  amazing  insanity.     The  foulness  of  that  unheard-of 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  127 

wickedness  broke  out  on  a  sudden,  taking  its  rise  from  the 
countless  vices  of  profligate  men  accumulated  ever  since  their 

youth. 

Think  not,  O  judges,  that  that  violence  and  that  attempt 
was  the  work  of  human  beings;  for  no  nation  ever  was  so  bar- 
barous or  so  savage,  as  to  have  (I  will  not  say  so  many,  but 
even)  one  implacable  enemy  to  his  country.  They  were  some 
savage  and  ferocious  beasts,  born  of  monsters,  and  clothed  in 
human  form.  Look  again  and  again,  O  judges ;  for  there  is 
nothing  too  violent  to  be  said  in  such  a  cause  as  this.  Look 
deeply  °and  thoroughly  into  the  minds  of  Catiline,  Autronius, 
Oethegus,  Lentulus,  and  the  rest.  What  lusts  you  will  find 
in  these  men,  what  crimes,  what  baseness,  what  audacity,  what 
incredible  insanity,  what  marks  of  wickedness,  what  traces  of 
parricide,  what  heaps  of  enormous  guilt !  Out  of  the  great 
diseases  of  the  republic,  diseases  of  long  standing,  which  had 
been  given  over  as  hopeless,  suddenly  that  violence  broke  out ; 
in  such  a  way,  that  when  it  was  put  down  and  got  rid  of,  the 
state  might  again  be  able  to  become  convalescent  and  to  be 
cured ;  for  there  is  no  one  who  thinks  that  if  those  pests  re- 
mained in  the  republic,  the  constitution  could  continue  to  ex- 
ist any  longer.  Therefore  they  were  some  Furies  who  urged 
them  on,  not  to  complete  their  wickedness,  but  to  atone  to 
the  republic  for  their  guilt  by  their  punishment. 

XXVIII.  Will  you  then,  O  judges,  now  turn  back  Publius 
Sylla  into  this  band  of  rascals,  out  of  that  band  of  honorable 
men  who  are  living  and  have  lived  as  his  associates?     Will 
you  transfer  him  from  this  body  of  citizens,  and  from  the  fa- 
miliar dignity  in  which  he  lives  with  them,  to  the  party  of 
impious  men,  to  that  crew  and  company  of  parricides  ?     What 
then  will  become  of  that  most  impregnable  defense  of  modes- 
ty %  in  what  respect  will  the  purity  of  our  past  lives  be  of  any 
use  to  us?     For  what  time  is  the  reward  of  the  character 
which  a  man  has  gained  to  be  reserved,  if  it  is  to  desert  him 
at  his  utmost  need,  and  when  he  is  engaged  in  a  contest  in 
which  all  his  fortunes  are  at  stake — if  it  is  not  to  stand  by 
him  and  help  him  at  such  a  crisis  as  this?     Our  prosecutor 
threatens  us  with  the  examinations  and  torture  of  our  slaves ; 
and  though  we  do  not  suspect  that  any  danger  can  arise  to 
us  from  them,  yet  pain  reigns  in  those  tortures;  much  de- 
pends on  the  nature  of  every  one's  mind,  and  the  fortitude  of 
a  person's  body.     The  inquisitor  manages  every  thing ;  caprice 


128  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

regulates  much,  hope  corrupts  them,  fear  disables  them,  so 
that,  in  the  straits  in  which  they  are  placed,  there  is  but  little 
room  left  for  truth. 

Is  the  life  of  Publius  Sylla,  then,  to  be  put  to  the  torture? 
is  it  to  be  examined  to  see  what  lust  is  concealed  beneath  it? 
whether  any  crime  is  lurking  under  it,  or  any  cruelty,  or  any 
audacity?  There  will  be  no  mistake  in  our  cause,  O  judges, 
no  obscurity,  if  the  voice  of  his  whole  life,  which  ought  to  be 
of  the  very  greatest  weight,  is  listened  to  by  }ou.  In  tins 
cause  we  fear  no  witness;  we  feel  sure  that. no  one  knows,  or 
has  ever  seen,  or  has  ever  heard  any  thing  against  us.  But 
still,  if  the  consideration  of  the  fortune  of  Publius  Sylla  has 
no  effect  on  you,  O  judges,  let  a  regard  for  your  own  fortune 
weigh  with  you.  For  this  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to 
you  who  have  lived  in  the  greatest  elegance  and  safety,  that 
the  causes  of  honorable  men  should  not  be  judged  of  accord- 
ing to  the  caprice,  or  enmity,  or  worthlessness  of  the  witness- 
es ;  but  that  in  important  investigations  and  sudden  dangers, 
the  life  of  every  man  should  be  the  most  credible  witness. 
And  do  not  you,  O  judges,  abandon  and  expose  it,  stripped  of 
its  arms,  and  defenseless,  to  envy  and  suspicion.  Fortify  the 
common  citadel  of  all  good  men,  block  up  the  ways  of  escape 
resorted  to  by  the  wicked.  Let  that  witness  be  of  the  great- 
est weight  in  procuring  either  safety  or  punishment  for  a  man, 
which  is  the  only  one  that,  from  its  own  intrinsic  nature,  can 
with  ease  be  thoroughly  examined,  and  which  can  not  be  sud- 
denly altered  and  remodeled. 

XXIX.  What?  Shall  this  authority  (for  I  must  contin- 
ually speak  of  that,  though  I  will  speak  of  it  with  timidity 
and  moderation) — shall,  I  say,  this  authority  of  mine,  when 
I  have  kept  aloof  from  the  cause  of  every  one  else  accused 
of  this  conspiracy,  and  have  defended  Sylla  alone,  be  of  no 
service  to  my  client?  This  is  perhaps  a  bold  thing  to  say, 
O  judges;  a  bold  thing,  if  we  are  asking  for  any  thing;  a  bold 
thing,  if,  when  every  one  else  is  silent  about  us,  we  will  not 
be  silent  ourselves.  But  if  Ave  are  attacked,  if  we  are  ac- 
cused, if  we  are  sought  to  be  rendered  unpopular,  then  surely, 
O  judges,  you  will  allow  UP  *0  retain  our  liberty,  even  if  we 
cas  not  quite  retain  all  our  digP'ty.  All  the  men  of  consular 
rank  are  accused  at  one  swoop ;  so  that  the  name  of  the  most 
honorable  office  in  the  State  appears  now  to  cany  with  it 
more  unpopularity  than  dign?*)j       s'They  stood  by  Catiline," 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  129 

Bays   he,   "and  praised  him."      At  that   time   there   was   no 
conspiracy  known  of  or  discovered.     They  were  defending  a 
friend.     They  were  giving  their  suppliant  the  countenance  of 
their  presence.      They  did  not  think  the  moment  of  his  most 
imminent  danger  a  lit  time  to  reproach  him  with  the  infamy 
of  his  life.     Moreover,  even  your  own  father,  O  Torquatus, 
when  consul,  was  the  advocate  of  Catiline  when  he  was  prose- 
cuted  on  a  charge  of  extortion  :  he  knew  he  was  a  lad  man, 
but  he  was  a  suppliant ;  perhaps  he  was  an  audacious  man, 
but  he  had  once  been  his  friend.     And,  as  he  stood  by  him 
after  information  of  that  first  conspiracy  had  been  laid  before 
him,  he  showed  that  he  had  heard  something  about  him,  but 
that  he  had  not  believed  it.      "  But  he  did  not   countenance 
him  by  his  prec-ence  at  the  other  trial,  when  the  rest  did."     If 
he  himself  had  afterward  learned  something  of  which  he  had 
been  ignorant  when  consul,  still  we  must  pardon  those  men 
who  had  heard  nothing  since  that  time.     But  if  the  first  ac- 
cusation had  weight,  it  ought  not  to  have  had  more  weight 
when  it  was  old  than  when  it  was  fresh.     But  if  your  parent, 
even  wljen  he  was  not  without  suspicion  of  danger  to  himself, 
was  still  induced  by  pity  to  do  honor  to  the  defense  of  a  most 
worthless  man  by  his  curule  chair,  by  his  own  private  dig- 
nity, and   by  that  of  his  office  as  consul,  then  what  reason 
is  there  for  reproaching  the  men  of  consular  rank  who  gave 
Catiline  the  countenance  of  their  presence  ?      "  Eut  the  same 
men  did  not  countenance  those  who  were  tried  for  their  ac- 
cession to  this  conspiracy  before  Sylla."     Certainly  not ;  they 
resolved  that  no  aid,  no  assistance,  no  support  ought  to  be 
given  by  them  to  men  implicated  in  such  wickedness.     And 
that  I  may  speak  for  a  moment  of  their  constancy  and  attach- 
ment to  the  republic,  whose  silent  virtue  and  loyalty  bears 
witness  in  behalf  of  every  one  of  them,  and  needs  no  orna- 
ments of  language  from  any  one — can   any  one  say  that  any 
time  there  were  men  of  consular  rank   more  virtuous,  more 
fearless,  or  more  firm,  than  those  who   lived  in  these  critical 
and   perilous  times,  in  which  the   republic  was  nearly  over- 
whelmed ?     Who  of  them  did  not,  with  the  greatest  openness, 
and  bravery,  and  earnestness,  give  his  whole  thoughts  to  the 
common  safety  ?     2sor  need  I  confine  what  I  say  to  the  men 
of  consular  rank.     For  this  credit  is  due  to  all  those  accom- 
plished men  who  have  been  prastors,  and  indeed  to  the  whole 
senate  in  common ;   so   that  it  is  plain   that  never,   in   the 

F2 


130  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

memory  of  man,  was  there  more  virtue  in  that  order,  greater 
attachment  to  the  republic,  or  more  consummate  wisdom. 
But  because  the  men  of  consular  rank  were  especially  mention- 
ed, I  thought  I  ought  to  say  thus  much  in  their  behalf;  and 
that  that  would  be  enough,  as  the  recollection  of  all  men  would 
join  me  in  bearing  witness,  that  there  was  not  one  man  of  that 
rank  who  did  not  labor  with  all  his  virtue,  and  energy,  and  in- 
fluence, to  preserve  the  republic. 

XXX.  But  what  comes  next  1     Do  I,  who  never  praised 
Catiline,  who  never  as  consul  countenanced  Catiline  when  he 
was  on  his  trial,  who  have  given  evidence  respecting  the  con 
spiracy  against  others — do  I  seem  to  you  so  far  removed  fron 
sanity,  so  forgetful  of  my  own  consistency,  so  forgetful  of  all 
the  exploits  which  I  have   performed,  as,  though  as  consul 
I  waged  war  against  the  conspirators,  now  to  wish  to  pre- 
serve their  leader,  and  to  bring  my  mind  now  to  defend  the 
cause  and  the  life  of  that  same  man  whose  weapon  I  lately 
blunted,  and  whose  flames  I  have  but  just  extinguished?     If, 
O  judges,  the  republic  itself,  which  has  been  preserved  by  my 
labors  and  dangers,  did  not  by  its  dignity  recall  me  to  wis- 
dom and  consistency,  still  it  is  an  instinct  implanted  by  na- 
ture, to  hate  forever  the  man  whom  you  have  once  feared, 
with  whom  you  have  contended  for  life  and  fortune,  and  from 
whose  plots  you  have  escaped.     But  when  my  chief  honors 
and  the  great  glory  of  all  my  exploits  are  at  stake ;  when,  as 
often   as  any  one  is  convicted  of  any  participation   in  this 
wickedness,  the  recollection  of  the  safety  of  the  city  having 
been  secured  by  me  is  renewed,  shall  I  be  so  mad  as  to  allow 
those  things  which  I  did  in  behalf  of  the  common  safety  to 
appear  now  to  have  beeh  done  by  me  more  by  chance  and  by 
good  fortune  than  by  virtue  and  wisdom  ?      "  What,  then,  do 
you  mean  ?     Do  you,"  some  one  will  say,  perhaps,  "  claim  that 
a  man  shall  be  judged  innocent,  just  because  you  have  de- 
fended himf     But  I,  O  judges,  not  only  claim  nothing  for 
myself  to  which  any  one  can  object,  but  I  even  give  up  and 
abandon  pretensions  which  are  granted  and  allowed  me  by 
every   one.     I  am   not  living   in    such  a  republic — I  have 
not  exposed  my  life  to  all  sorts  of  dangers  for  the  sake  of  my 
country  at  such  a  time — they  whom  1  have  defeated  are  not 
so  utterly  extinct — nor  are  those  whom  I  have  preserved  so 
grateful,  that   I   should  think  it    safe  to   attempt  to   assume 
more  than  all  my  enemies  and  enviers  may  endure.     It  would 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  131 

appear  an  offensive  thing  for  him  who  investigated  the  con- 
spiracy, who  laid  it  open,  who  crushed  it,  whom  the  senate 
thanked  in  unprecedented  language,  to  whom  the  senate  de- 
creed a  supplication,  which  they  had  never  decreed  to  any  one 
before  for  civil  services,  to  say  in  a  court  of  justice,  "I  would 
not  have  defended  him  if  he  had  been  a  conspirator."  I  do 
not  say  that,  because  it  might  be  offensive}  I  say  this,  which 
in  these  trials  relating  to  the,  conspiracy  I  may  claim  a  right 
to  say,  speaking  not  with  authority  but  with  modesty,  "  I  who 
investigated  and  chastised  that  conspiracy  would  certainly  not 
defend  Sylla,  if  I  thought  that  he  had  been  a  conspirator." 
I,  O  judges,  say  this,  which  I  said  at  the  beginning,  that  when 
I  was  making  a  thorough  inquiry  into  those  great  dangers 
which  were  threatening  every  body,  when  I  was  hearing  many 
things,  not  believing  every  thing,  but  guarding  against  every 
thing,  not  one  word  was  said  to  me  by  any  one  who  gave 
information,  nor  did  any  one  hint  any  suspicion,  nor  was 
there  the  slightest  mention  in  any  one's  letters,  of  Publius 
Sylla. 

XXXI.  Wherefore  I  call  you,  O  gods  of  my  country  and 
of  my  household,  to  witness — you  who  preside  over  this  city 
and  this  empire — you  who  have  preserved  this  empire,  and 
these  our  liberties,  and  the  Roman  people — you  who  by  your 
divine  assistance  protected  these  houses  and  temples  when  I 
was  consul — that  I,  with  a  free  and  honest  heart,  am  defending 
the  cause  of  Publius  Sylla ;  that  no  crime  has  been  concealed 
by  me  knowingly,  that  no  wickedness  undertaken  against  the 
general  safety  has  been  kept  back  or  defended  by  me.  I,  when 
consul,  found  out  nothing  about  this  man,  1  suspected  nothing, 
I  heard  of  nothing.  Therefore  I,  the  same  person  who  have 
seemed  to  be  vehement  against  some  men,  inexorable  toward 
the  rest  of  the  conspirators  (I  paid  my  country  what  I  owed 
her ;  what  I  am  now  doing  is  due  to  my  own  invariable  hab- 
its and  natural  disposition),  am  as  merciful,  O  judges,  as  you 
yourselves.  I  am  as  gentle  as  the  most  soft-hearted  among 
you.  As  far  as  I  was  vehement  in  union  with  you,  I  did 
nothing  except  what  I  was  compelled  to  do :  I  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  republic  when  in  great  danger ;  I  raised  my 
sinking  country  ;  influenced  by  pity  for  the  whole  body  of 
citizens,  we  were  then  as  severe  as  was  necessary.  The  safety 
of  all  men  would  have  been  lost  forever  in  one  night,  if  that 
severity  had  not  been  exercised ;  but  as  I  was  led  on  to  the 


132  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

punishment  of  wicked  men  by  my  attachment  to  the  republic, 
so  now  I  am  led  to  secure  the  safety  of  the  innocent  by  my 
own  inclination. 

I  see,  O  judges,  that  in  this  Publius  Sylla  there  is  nothing 
worthy  of  hatred,  and  many  circumstances  deserving  our  pity. 
For  he  does  not  now,  O  judges,  flee  to  you  as  a  suppliant  for 
the  sake  of  warding  off  calamity  from  himself,  but  to  prevent 
his  whole  family  and  name  from  being  branded  with  the 
stigma  of  nefarious  baseness.  For  as  for  himself,  even  if  he 
be  acquitted  by  your  decision,  what  honors  has  he,  what 
comforts  has  he  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  in  which  he  can  find 
delight  or  enjoyment'?  His  house,  I  suppose,  will  be  adorned ; 
the  images  of  his  ancestors  will  be  displayed  ;  he  himself  will 
resume  his  ornaments  and  his  usual  dress.  All  these  things, 
O  judges,  are  lost  to  him  ;  all  the  insignia  and  ornaments  of 
his  family,  and  his  name,  and  his  honor,  were  lost  by  the 
calamity  of  that  one  decision.  But  he  is  anxious  not  to  be 
called  the  destroyer,  the  betrayer,  the  enemy  of  his  country  ; 
he  is  fearful  of  leaving  such  disgrace  to  a  family  of  such  re- 
nown ;  he  is  anxious  that  this  unhappy  child  may  not  be 
called  the  son  of  a  conspirator,  a  criminal,  and  a  traitor.  He 
fears  for  this  boy,  who  is  much  dearer  to  him  than  his  own 
life,  anxious,  though  he  can  not  leave  him  the  undiminished 
inheritance  of  his  honors,  at  all  events  not  to  leave  him  the 
undying  recollection  of  his  infamy.  This  little  child  entreats 
you,  O  judges,  to  allow  him  occasionally  to  congratulate  his 
father,  if  not  with  his  fortunes  unimpaired,  at  least  to  con- 
gratulate him  in  his  affliction.  The  roads  to  the  courts  of 
justice  and  to  the  forum  are  better  known  to  that  unhappy 
boy,  than  the  roads  to  his  play-ground  or  to  his  school.  1  am 
contending  now,  O  judges,  not  for  the  life  of  Publius  Sylla, 
but  for  his  burial.  His  life  was  taken  from  him  at  the  former 
trial ;  we  are  now  striving  to  prevent  his  body  from  being  cast 
out.  For  what  has  he  left  which  need  detain  him  in  this  life1? 
or  what  is  there  to  make  any  one  think  such  an  existence  life 
at  all  ? 

XXXII.  Lately,  Publius  Sylla  was  a  man  of  such  considera- 
tion in  the  state,  that  no  one  thought  himself  superior  to  him 
either  in  honor,  or  in  influence,  or  in  good  fortune,  xsow, 
stripped  of  all  his  dignity,  he  does  not  Beek  to  recover  what 
has  been  taken  away  from  him  ;  but  he  docs  entreat  you,  0 
judges,  not  to  take  from  him  the  little  which  fortune  has  loft 


FOR  P.  SYLLA.  133 

him  in  his  disasters — namely,  the  permision  to  bewail  his 
calamities  in  company  with  his  parent,  with  his  children,  with 
his  brother,  and  with  his  friends.  It  would  be  becoming  for 
even  you  yourself,  O  Torquatus,  to  be  by  this  time  satisfied 
with  the  miseries  of  my  client.  Although  you  had  taken  no- 
thing from  Sylla  except  the  consulship,  yet  you  ought  to  be 
content  with  that.  For  it  was  a  contest  for  honor,  and  not 
enmity,  which  originally  induced  you  to  take  up  this  cause. 
But  now  that,  together  with  his  honor,  every  thing  else  has 
been  taken  from  him — now  that  he  is  desolate,  crushed  by 
this  miserable  and  grievous  fortune,  what  is  there  which  you 
can  -wish  for  more  ?  Do  you  wish  to  deprive  him  of  the  en- 
joyment of  the  light  of  day,  full  as  it  is  to  him  of  tears  and 
grief,  in  which  he  now  lives  amid  the  greatest  grief  and  tor- 
ment ?  He  would  gladly  give  it  up,  if  you  would  release  him 
from  the  foul  imputation  of  this  most  odious  crime.  Do  you 
seek  to  banish  him  as  an  enemy,  when,  if  you  were  really 
hard-hearted,  you  ,would  derive  greater  enjoyment  from  seeing 
his  miseries  than  from  hearing  of  them?  Oh,  wretched  and 
unhappy  was  that  day  on  which  Publius  Sylla  was  declared 
consul  by  all  the  centuries !  O  how  false  were  the  hopes  !  how 
fleeting  the  <rood  fortune !  how  blind  the  desire !  how  unrea- 
sonable  the  congratulations!  Plow  soon  was  all  that  scene 
changed  from  joy  and  pleasure  to  mourning  and  tears,  when 
he,  who  but  a  short  time  before  had  been  consul  elect,  had  on 
a  sudden  no  trace  left  of  his  previous  dignity.  P'or  what  evil 
was  there  which  seemed  then  to  be  wanting  to  him  when  he 
was  thus  stripped  of  honor,  and  fame,  and  fortune  ?  or  what 
room  could  there  be  left  for  any  new  calamity?  The  same 
fortune  continues  to  pursue  him  which  followed  him  from  the 
first ;  she  finds  a  new  source  of  grief  for  him  ;  she  will  not 
allow  an  unfortunate  man  to  perish  when  he  has  been  afflicted 
in  only  one  way,  and  by  only  one  disaster. 

XXXIII.  But  now,  O  judges,  I  am  hindered  by  my  own 
grief  of  mind  from  saying  any  more  about  the  misery  of 
my  client.  That  consideration  belongs  to  you,  O  judges. 
I  rest  the  whole  cause  on  your  mercy  and  your  humanity. 
You,  after  a  rejection  of  several  judges,  of  which  we  had  no 
suspicion,  have  sat  as  judges  suddenly  appointed  to  hear  our 
cause,  having  been  chosen  by  our  accusers  from  their  hopes  of 
your  severity,  but  having  been  also  given  to  us  by  fortune  as 
the  protectors  of  our  innocence.     As  I  have  been  anxious  as 


134  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

to  what  the  Roman  people  thought  of  me,  because  I  had  been 
severe  toward  wicked  men,  and  so  have  undertaken  the  first 
defense  of  an  innocent  man  that  was  offered  to  me,  so  do  you 
also  mitigate  that  severity  of  the  courts  of  justice  which  has 
been  exerted  now  for  some  months  against  the  most  audacious 
of  men,  by  your  lenity  and  mercy.  The  cause  itself  ought 
to  obtain  this  from  you ;  and  besides,  it  is  due  to  your  virtue 
and  courage  to  show  that  you  are  not  the  men  to  whom  it  is 
most  advisable  for  an  accuser  to  apply  after  having  rejected 
other  judges.  And  in  leaving  the  matter  to  your  decision,  O 
judges,  I  exhort  you,  with  all  the  earnestness  that  my  affec- 
tion for  you  warrants  me  in  using,  so  to  act  that  we,  by  our 
common  zeal  (since  we  are  united  in,  the  service  of  the  repub- 
lic), and  you,  by  your  humanity  and  mercy,  may  repel  fronv 
us  both  the  false  charge  of  cruelty. 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  FOR  A1^1atS  LICINIUS  AR- 

CHIAS,  THE  POET. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

\rchias  was  a  Greek  poet,  a  native  of  Antioch,  who  cam*  to  Rome  in  the 
train  of  Lucullus,  when  -Cicero  was  a  child.  He  assumed  the  names 
of  Aulus  and  Licinius,  the  last  out  of  compliment  to  the  Luculli,  and 
Cicero  had  been  for  some  time  a  pupil  of  his,  and  had  retained  a  great 
regard  for  him.  A  man  of  the  name  of  Gracclms  now  prosecuted  him 
as  a  false  pretender  to  the  rights  of  a  Roman  citizen,  according  to  the 
provisions  of  the  lex  Papiria.  But  Cicero  contends  that  he  is  justified 
by  that  very  law,  for  Archias  before  coming  to  Rome  had  staid  at 
Heraclea,  a  confederate  city,  and  had  been  enrolled  as  a  Heraclean  cit- 
izen ;  and  in  the  lex  Papiria  it  was  expressly  provided  that  those  who 
were  on  the  register  of  any  confederate  city  as  its  citizens,  if  they  were 
residing  in  Italy  at  the  time  the  law  was  passed,  and  if  they  made  a 
return  of  themselves  to  the  praetor  within  sixty  days,  were  to  be  ex- 
empt from  its  operation.  However,  the  greatest  part  of  this  oration 
is  occupied,  not  in  legal  arguments,  but  in  a  panegyric  on  Archias, 
who  is  believed  to  have  died  soon  afterward  ;  and  he  must  have  been 
a  very  old  man  at  the  time  that  it  was  spoken,  as  it  was  nearly  forty 
years  previously  that  he  had  first  come  to  Rome. 

I.  If  there  be  any  natural  ability  in  me,  O  judges — and 
I  know  how  slight  that  is;  or  if  I  have  any  practice  as  a 
speaker — and  in  that  line  I  do  not  deny  that  1  have  some 


FOR  A.  L    ARCHIAS.  135 

experience ;  or  if  I  have  any  method  in  my  oratory,  drawn' 
from  my  study  of  the  liberal  sciences,  and  from  that  careful 
training  to  which  I  admit  that  at  no  part  of  my  life  have 
I  ever  been  disinclined ;  certainly,  of  all  those  qualities,  this 
Aulus  Licinius  is  entitled  to  be  among  the  first  to  claim  the 
benefit  from  me  as  his  peculiar  right.  For  as  far  as  ever  my 
mind  can  look  back  upon  the  space  of  time  that  is  past,  and 
recall  the  memory  of  its  earliest  youth,  tracing  my  life  from 
that  starting-point,  I  see  that  Archias  was  the  principal  cause 
of  my  undertaking,  and  the  principal  means  of  my  mastering, 
those  studies.  And  if  this  voice  of  mine,  formed  by  his  en- 
couragement and  his  precepts,  has  at  times  been  the  instru- 
ment of  safety  to  others,  undoubtedly  we  ought,  as  far  as  lies 
in  our  power,  to  help  and  save  the  very  man  from  whom  we 
have  received  that  gift  which  has  enabled  us  to  bring  help  to 
many  and  salvation  to  some.  And  lest  any  one  should,  per- 
chance, marvel  at  this  being  said  by  me,  as  the  chief  of  his 
ability  consists  in  something  else,  and  not  in  this  system  and 
practice  of  eloquence,  he  must  be  told  that  even  we  our- 
selves have  never  been  wholly  devoted  to  this  study.  In 
truth,  all  the  arts  which  concern  the  civilizing  and  human- 
izing of  men,  have  some  link  which  bind.3  them  together, 
and  are,  as  it  were,  connected  by  some  relationship  to  one 
another. 

II.  And,  that  it  may  not  appear  marvelous  to  any  one  of 
you,  that  I,  in  a  formal  proceeding  like  this,  and  in  a  regular 
court  of  justice,  when  an  action  is  being  tried  before  a  prastor 
of  the  Roman  people,  a  most  eminent  man,  and  before  most 
impartial  judges,  before  such  an  assembly  and  multitude  of 
people  as  I  see  around  me,  employ  this  style  of  speaking, 
which  is  at  variance,  not  only  with  the  ordinary  usages  of 
courts  of  justice,  but  with  the  general  style  of  forensic  plead- 
ing; I  entreat  you  in  this  cause  to  grant  me  this  indulgence, 
suitable  to  this  defendant,  and  as  I  trust  not  disagreeable  to 
you — the  indulgence,  namely,  of  allowing  me,  when  speak- 
ing in  defense  of  a  most  sublime  poet  and  most  learned 
man,  before  this  concourse  of  highly-educated  citizens,  be- 
fore this  most  — lite  and  accomplished  assembly,  and  before 
such  a  praetor  as  him  who  is  presiding  at  this  trial,  to  enlai 
with  a  little  more  freedom  than  usual  on  the  study  of  polite 
literature  and  refined  arts,  and.  king   in   the   character 

of  such  a  tl  that,  who,  owing  to  the  tranquillity  of  his 


136  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

life  and  the  studies  to  which  he  has  devoted  himself,  has  but 
little  experience  of  the  dangers  of  a  court  of  justice,  to  employ 
a  new  and  unusual  style  of  oratory.  And  if  I  feel  that  that 
indulgence  is  given  and  allowed  me  by  you,  I  will  soon  cause 
you  to  think  that  this  Aulus  Licinius  is  a  man  who  not  only, 
now  that  he  is  a  citizen,  does  not  deserve  to  be  expunged  from 
the  list  of  citizens,  but  that  he  is  worthy,  even  if  he  were  not 
one,  of  being  now  made  a  citizen. 

III.  For  when  first  Archias  grew  out  of  childhood,  and 
out  of  the  studies  of  those  arts  by  which  young  boys  are 
gradually  trained  and  refined,  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  writing.  First  of  all  at  Antioch  (for  he  was  born 
there,  and  was  of  high  rank  there),  formerly  an  illustrious 
and  wealthy  city,  and  the  seat  of  learned  men  and  of  liberal 
sciences ;  and  there  it  was  his  lot  speedily  to  show  himself 
superior  to  all  in  ability  and  credit.  Afterward,  in  the  other 
parts  of  Asia,  and  over  all  Greece,  his  arrival  was  so  talked  of 
wherever  he  came,  that  the  anxiety  with  which  he  was  ex- 
pected was  even  greater  than  the  fame  of  his  genius ;  but 
the  admiration  which  he  excited  when  he  had  arrived,  ex- 
ceeded even  the  anxiety  with  which  he  was  expected.  Italy 
was  at  that  time  full  of  Greek  science  and  of  Greek  systems, 
and  these  studies  were  at  that  time  cultivated  in  Latium  with 
greater  zeal  than  they  now  are  in  the  same  towns ;  and  here 
too  at  Rome,  on  account  of  the  tranquil  state  of  the  republic 
at  that  time,  they  were  far  from  neglected.  Therefore,  the 
people  of  Tarentum,  and  Rhegium,  and  Neapolis,  presented 
him  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  and  with  other  gifts ;  and 
all  men  who  were  capable  of  judging  of  genius  thought  him 
deserving  of  their  acquaintance  and  hospitality.  When,  from 
this  great  celebrity  of  his,  he  had  become  known  to-  us  ±t> 
though -absent,  he  came  to  Rome,  in  the  consulship  of  Marius^^ 
and  Catulus.  It  was  his  lot  to  have  those  men  as  his  first 
consuls,  the  one  of  whom  could  supply  him  with  the  most  il- 
lustrious achievements  to  Avrite  about,  the  other  could  give 
him,  not  only  exploits  to  celebrate,  but  his  ears  and  judicious 
attention.  Immediately  the  Luculli,  though  Archias  was  as 
yet  but  a  youth,1  received  him  in  their  house.     But  it  was  not 

1  The  Latin  is  pratcxtatus.  Before  he  had  exchanged  the  prcttcxta  foi 
the  toga  vinlts.  it  has  generally  been  thought  that  the  age  at  \\  hich  this 
exchange  was  made  was  seventeen,  but  Professor  Long,  the  highest  pos- 
sible authority  on  all  subjects  of  Latin  literature,  and  especia"y  on  Re 


FOR  A.  L.  ARCHIAS.  I57 

only  to  his  genius  and  his  learning,  but  also  to  his  natural 
disposition  and  virtue,  that  it  must  be  attributed  that  the 
house  which  was  the  first  to  be  opened  to  him  in  his  youth,  is 
also  the  one  in  which  he  lives  most  familiarly  in  his  old  ap;e. 
He  at  that  time  gained  the  affection  of  Quintus  Metcllus, 
that  great  man  who  was  the  conqueror  of  Numidia,  and  his 
son  Pius.  He  was  eagerly  listened  to  by  Marcus  iEmilius; 
he  associated  with  Quintus  Catulus — both  with  the  father  and 
the  sons.  He  was  highly  respected  by  Lucius  Crassus;  and 
as  for  the  Luculli,  and  Drusus,  and  the  Octavii,  and  Cato,  and 
the  whole  family  of  the  Hortensii,  he  was  on  terms  of  the 
greatest  possible  intimacy  with  all  of  them,  and  was  held  by 
thein  in  the  greatest  honor.  For,  not  only  did  ever}'  one 
cultivate  his  acquaintance  who  wished  to  learn  or  to  hear 
any  thing,  but  even  every  one  pretended  to  have  such  a 
desire. 

IV.  In  the  mean  time,  after  a  sufficiently  long  interval, 
having  gone  with  Lucius  Lucullus  into  Sicily,  and  having 
afterward  departed  from  that  province  in  the  company  of  the 
same  Lucullus,  he  came  to  Heraclea.  And  as  that  city  was 
one  which  enjoyed  all  the  rights  of  a  confederate  city  to  their 
full  extent,  he  became  desirous  of  being  enrolled  as  a  citizen 
of  it.  And,  being  thought  deserving  of  such  a  favor  for  his 
own  sake,  when  aided  by  the  influence  and  authority  of 
Lucullus,  he  easily  obtained  it  from  the  Heracleans.  The 
freedom  of  the  city  was  given  him  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  law  of  Silvanus  and  Carbo :  "  If  any  men 
had  been  enrolled  as  citizens  of  the  confederate  cities,  and  if, 
at  the  time  that  the  law  was  passed,  they  had  a  residence  in 
Italy,  and  if  within  sixty  days  they  had  made  a  return  of 
themselves  to  the  praetor."  As  he  had  now  had  a  residence 
at  Eome  for  many  years,  he  returned  himself  as  a  citizen  to 
the  praetor,  Quintus  Metellus,  his  most  intimate  friend.     If 

man  law,  says  (Smith,  Diet.  Ant.  v.  Impnbcs),  "  The  toga  virilis  was  as- 
sumed at  the  Liberalia  in  the  month  of  March  ;  and  though  no  age  ap- 
pears to  have  been  positively  fixed  for  the  ceremony,  it  probably  took 
place,  as  a  general  rule,  on  the  feast  which  next  followed  the  completion 
of  the  fourteenth  year,  though  it  is  certain  that  the  completion  of  the 
fourteenth  year  was  not  always  the  time  observed.'"  Even  supposing 
Archias  to  have  been  seventeen,  it  appear-;  rafher  an  early  ^<^  for  him  to 
have  established  such  a  reputation  as  Cicero  sp  .and];  as 

not  being  at  that  time  a  Roman  citizen,  he  probably  did  not  wear  the 
■pratcxta  at  all;  the  expression  is  not  to  b<  iiteraitv,  but  we  zct 

merely  to  understand  generally  that  he  was  quite  a  young  man 


138  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

we  have  nothing  else  to  speak  about  except  the  rights  of  citi- 
zenship and  the  law,  I  need  say  no  more.  The  cause  is  over. 
For  which  of  all  these  statements,  O  Gratius,  can  be  inval- 
idated? Will  you  deny  that  lie  was  enrolled,  at  the  time  I 
speak  of,  as  a  citizen  of  Heraclea?  There  is  a  man  present 
of  the  very  highest  authority,  a  most  scrupulous  and  truthful 
man,  Lucius  Lucullus,  who  will  tell  you  not  that  he  thinks  it, 
but  that  he  knows  it ;  not  that  he  has  heard  of  it,  but  that  he 
saw  it ;  not  even  that  he  was  present  when  it  was  done,  but 
that  he  actually  did  it  himself.  Deputies  from  Heraclea  are 
present,  men  of  the  highest  rank ;  they  have  come  expressly 
on  account  of  this  trial,  with  a  commission  from  their  city,  and 
to  give  evidence  on  the  part  of  their  city ;  and  they  say  that 
he  was  enrolled  as  a  Heraclean.  On  this  you  ask  for  the  pub- 
lic registers  of  the  Heracleans,  which  we  all  know  were  de- 
stroyed in  the  Italian  war,  when  the  register-office  was  burned. 
It  is  ridiculous  to  say  nothing  to  the  proofs  which  we  have, 
but  to  ask  for  proofs  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  have ;  to 
disregard  the  recollection  of  men,  and  to  appeal  to  the  mem- 
ory of  documents ;  and  when  you  have  the  conscientious  evi- 
dence of  a  most  honorable  man,  the  oath  and  good  faith  of  a 
most  respectable  municipality,  to  reject  those  things  which  can 
not  by  any  possibility  be  tampered  with,  and  to  demand  docu- 
mentary evidence,  though  you  say  at  the  same  moment  that 
that  is  constantly  played  tricks  with.  "  But  he  had  no  res- 
idence at  Rome."  What,  not  he  who  for  so  many  years 
before  the  freedom  of  the  city  was  given  to  him,  had  estab- 
lished the  abode  of  all  his  property  and  fortunes  at  Rome? 
"  But  he  did  not  return  himself."  Indeed  he  did,  and  in  that 
return  which  alone  obtains  with  the  college  of  praetors  the  au- 
thority of  a  public  document. 

V.  For  as  the  returns  of  Appius  were  said  to  have  been 
kept  carelessly,  and  as  the  trilling  conduct  of  Gabinius,  before 
he  was  convicted,  and  his  misfortune  after  his  condemnation, 
had  taken  away  all  credit  from  the  public  registers,  Metellus, 
the  most  scrupulous  and  moderate  of  all  men,  was  so  careful, 
that  he  came  to  Lucius  Lentulus,  the  praetor,  and  to  the 
judges,  and  said  that  he  was  greatly  vexed  at  an  erasure  which 
appeared  in  one  name.  In  these  documents,  therefore,  you 
will  see  no  erasure  affecting  the  name  of  Aulus  Licinius.  And 
as  this  is  the  case,  what  reason  have  you  for  doubting  about 
hi*  citizenship,  especially  as  he  was  enrolled  as  a  citizen  of 


FOR  A.  L.  ARCHIAS.  139 

other  cities  also"?     In  truth,  as  men  in  Greece  were  in  the 

it  of  giving  rights  of  citizenship  to  many  men  of  vei 
ordinary  quahhcations,  and  endowed  with  no  talents  at  an,  or 
with  very  moderate  ones,  without  any  payment,  it  is  likely,  I 
suppose,  that  the  Rhegians,  and  Locrians,  and  Neapolitans, 
and  Tarentines  should  have  been  unwilling  to  give  to  this 
man,  enjoying  the  highest  possible  reputation  for  genius,  what 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  giving  even  to  theatrical  artists. 
What,  when  other  men,  who  not  only  after  the  freedom  of  the 
city  had  been  given,  but  even  after  the  passing  of  the  Papian 
law,  crept  somehow  or  other  into  the  registers  of  those  munic- 
ipalities, shall  he  be  rejected  who  does  not  avail  himself  of 
those  other  lists  in  which  he  is  enrolled,  because  he  always 
wished  to  be  considered  a  Heraclean?  You  demand  to  see 
our  own  censor's  returns.  I  suppose  no  one  knows  that  at 
the  time  of  the  last  census  lie  was  with  that  most  illustrious 
general,  Lucius  Lucullus,  with  the  army ;  that  at  the  time  of 
the  preceding  one  he  was  with  the  same  man  when  he  was  in 
Asia  as  qurestor;  and  that  in  the  census  before  that,  when 
Julius  and  Crassus  were  censors,  no  regular  account  of  the 
people  was  taken.  But,  since  the  census  does  not  confirm 
the  right  of  citizenship,  but  only  indicates  that  he,  who  is 
returned  in  the  census,  did  at  that  time  claim  to  be  considered 
as  a  citizen,  I  say  that,  at  that  time,  when  you  say,  in  your 
speech  for  the  prosecution,  that  be  did  not  even  himself  con- 
sider that  he  had  any  claim  to  the  privileges  of  a  Roman 
citizen,  he  more  than  once  made  a  will  according  to  our  laws, 
and  he  entered  upon  inheritances  left  him  by  Roman  citizens; 
and  he  was  made  honorable  mention  of  by  Lucius  Lucullus, 
both  as  praetor  and  as  consul,  in  the  archives  kept  in  the 
treasury. 

VI.  You  must  rely  wholly  on  what  arguments  you  can  find. 
For  he  will  never  be  convicted  either  by  his  own  opinion  of 
his  case,  or  by  that  which  is  formed  of  it  by  his  friends. 
^  You  ask  us,  O  Gratius,  why  we  are  so  exceedingly  attached 
to  this  man.  Because  he  supplies  us  with  food  whereby  our 
mind  is  refreshed  after  this  noise  in  the  forum,  and  with  rest 
for  our  ears  after  they  have  been  wearied  with  bad  language. 
Do  you  think  it  possible  that  we  could  find  a  supply  for  our 
daily  speeches,  when  discussing  such  a  variety  of  matters, 
unless  we  were  to  cultivate  our  minds  by  the  study  of  litera- 
*  "\re ;  or  that  our  minds  could  bear  being  kept  so  constantly 


140  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

on  the  stretch  if  we  did  not  relax  them  by  that  same  study? 
But  I  confess  that  I  am  devoted  to  those  studies ;  let  others 
be  ashamed  of  them  if  they  have  buried  themselves  in  books 
without  being  able  to  produce  any  thing  out  of  them  for  the 
common  advantage,  or  any  thing  which  may  bear  the  eyes  of 
men  and  the  light.  !  But  why  need  I  be  ashamed,  who  for 
many  years  have  lived  in  such  a  manner  as  never  to  allow  my 
own  love  of  tranquillity  to  deny  me  to  the  necessity  or  ad- 
vantage of  another,  or  my  fondness  for  pleasure  to  distract,  or 
even  sleep  to  delay  my  attention  to  such  claims?  Who  then 
can  reproach  me,  or  who  has  any  right  to  be  angry  with  me, 
if  I  allow  myself  as  much  time  for  the  cultivation  of  these 
studies  as  some  take  for  the  performance  of  their  own  busi- 
ness, or  for  celebrating  days  of  festival  and  games,  or  for  other 
pleasures,  or  even  for  the  rest  and  refreshment  of  mind  and 
body,  or  as  others  devote  to  early  banquets,  to  playing  at  dice, 
or  at  ball?  And  this  ought  to  be  permitted  to  me,  because 
by  these  studies  my  power  of  speaking  and  those  faculties  are 
improved,  which,-  as  far  as  they  do  exist  in  me,  have  never 
been  denied  to  my  friends  when  they  have  been  in  peril.  And 
if  that  ability  appears  to  any  one  to  be  but  moderate,  at  all 
events  I  know  whence  I  derive  those  principles  which  are  of 
the  greatest  value.  For  if  I  had  not  persuaded  myself  from 
my  youth  upward,  both  by  the  precepts  of  many  masters  and 
by  much  reading,  that  there  is  nothing  in  life  greatly  to  be  de- 
sired, except  praise  and  honor,  and  that  while  pursuing  those 
things  all  tortures  of  the  body,  all  dangers  of  death  and  ban- 
ishment are  to  be  considered  but  of  small  importance,  I  should 
never  have  exposed  myself,  in  defense  of  your  safety,  to  such 
numerous  and  arduous  contests,  and  to  these  daily  attacks  of 
profligate  men. :  But  all  books  are  full  of  such  precepts,  and 
all  the  sayings  of  philosophers,  and  all  antiquity  is  full  of  pre- 
cedents teaching  the  same  lesson  ;  but  all  these  things  would  lie 
buried  in  darkness,  if  the  light  of  literature  and  learning  were 
not  applied  to  them.  How  many  images  of  the  brayest  men, 
carefully  elaborated,  have  both  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers 
bequeathed  to  us,  not  merely  for  us  to  look  at  and  gaze  upon, 
but  also  for  our  imitation!  And  I,  always  keeping  them  be- 
fore' my  eyes  as  examples  for  my  own  public  conduct,  have 
endeavored  to  model  my  mind  and  views  by  continually  think- 
ing of  those  excellent  men. 

Vll.   Some   one  will   ask,    "Whatl    were   those   identical 


FOR  A.  L.  ARCHIAS.  141 

great  men,  whose  virtues  have  been  recorded  in  books,  accom- 
plished in  all  that  learning  which  you  are  extolling  so  highly  f 
It  is  difficult  to  assert  this  of  all  of  them  ;  but  still  I  know 
what  answer  I  can  make  to  that  question  :   I  admit  that  many 
men  have  existed  of  admirable  disposition  and  virtue,  who, 
without  learning,  by  the  almost  divine  instinct  of  their  own 
mere  nature,  have  been,  of  their  own  accord,  as  it  were,  mod- 
erate and  wise  men.     I  even  add  this,  that  very  often  nature 
without  learning  has  had  more  to   do  with  leading  men  to 
credit  and  to  virtue,  than  learning   when  not   assisted  by  a 
good  natural  disposition.     And  I  also  contend,  that  when  to 
an  excellent  and  admirable  natural  disposition  there  is  added 
a   ceTtain  system  and  training  of  education,  then  from   that 
combination  arises  an  extraordinary  perfection  of  character  u 
such  as  is  seen  in  that  god-like  /nan,  whom  our  fathers  saw 
in  their  time,  Africanus ;    and  in  Caius  Laelius  and  Lucius 
Furius,  most  virtuous  'and  moderate  men  ;  and  in  that  most 
excellent  man,  the  most  learned  man  of  his  time,  Marcus  Cato 
the-  elder ;  and  all  these  men,  if  they  had  been  to  derive  no 
assistance  from  literature  in  the  cultivation  and  practice  of 
virtue,  would  never  have  applied  themselves  to  the  study  of 
it.  \  Though,  even  if  there  were  no  such  "great  advantage  to 
be  Neaped  from  it,  and  if  it  were;  only  pleasure  that  is  sought 
from  these  studies,  still  I  imagine  you  would  consider  it  a 
most  reasonable  and  liberal  employment  of  the   mind :    for 
other  occupations  are  not  suited  to  every  time,  nor  to  every 
age  or  place ;    but  these  studies  are  the  food  of  youth,  the 
delight  of  old  age;    the  ornament  of  prosperity,  the  refuge 
omfort  of  adversity ;  a  delight  at  home,  and  no  hinderance 
\ ;  they  are  companions  by  night,  and  in  travel,  and  in 
ntry. 
And  if  we  ourselves  were  not  able  to  arrive  at  these 
egj  nor    even   taste   them   with   our   senses,  still  we 
admire  them,  even  when  we  saw  them  in  others, 
was  of  so  ignorant  and  brutal  a  disposition  as  not 
grieved  at  the  death  of  Eoscius  1  who,  though  he 
aan  when  he  died,  yet,  on  account  of  the  excel- 
uty  of  his  art,  appeared  to  be  one  who  on  every 
Rgr  &  *t  i  not  to  have  died.     Therefore,  had  he  by  the 

GftStW*^^         body  gained  so  much  of  our  affections,  and 
1\S,'d  the  incredible  movements  of  the  mind,  and 
ms  of  genius  ?     How  often  have  I  seen  this 


142  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

man  Archias,  O  judges  (for  I  will  take  advantage  of  your  kind- 
ness, since  you  listen  to  me  so  attentively  while  speaking  in 
this  unusual  manner) — how  often  have  I  seen  him,  when  ha 
had  not  written  a  single  word,  repeat  extempore  a  great  num- 
ber of  admirable  verses  on  the  very  events  which  were  passing 
at  the  moment !  How  often  have  I  seen  him  go  back,  and 
describe  the  same  thing  over  again  with  an  entire  change  of 
language  and  ideas !  And  what  he  wrote  with  care  and  with 
much  thought,  that  I  have  seen  admired  to  such  a  degree,  as 
to  equal  the  credit  of  even  the  writings  of  the  ancients. 
Should  not  I,  then,  love  this  man  ?  should  I  not  admire  him  ? 
should  not  I  think  it  my  duty  to  defend  him  in  every  possible 
way?  And,  indeed,  we  have  constantly  heard  from  men  of 
the  greatest  eminence  and  learning,  that  the  study  of  other 
sciences  was  made  up  of  learning,  and  rules,  and  regular 
method ;  but  that  a  poet  was  such  by  the  unassisted  work  of 
nature,  and  was  moved  by  the  vigor  of  his  own  mind,  and 
was  inspired,  as  it  were,  by  some  divine  wrath.  Wherefore 
rightly  does  our  ow*  great  Ennius  call  poets  holy ;  because 
they  seem  to  be  recommended  to  us  by  some  especial  gift,  as 
it  were,  and  liberality  of  the  gods.  Let  then,  judges,  this 
name  of  poet,  this  name  which  no  barbarians  even  have  ever 
disregarded,  be  holy  in  your  eyes,  men  of  cultivated  minds  as 
you  all  are.  Rocks  and  deserts  reply  to  the  poet's  voice ;  sav- 
age beasts  are  often  moved  and  arrested  by  song :  and  shall 
we,  who  have  been  trained  in  the  pursuit  of  the  most  virtuous 
acts,  refuse  to  be  swayed  by  the  voice  of  poets  ?  The  Colo- 
phonians  say  that  Homer  was  their  citizen ;  the  Chians  claim 
him  as  theirs ;  the  Salaminians  assert  their  right  to  him  ;  but 
the  men  of  Smyrna  loudly  assert  him  to  be  a  citizen  of  Smyrna, 
a  id  they  have  even  raised  a  temple  to  him  in  their  city.  Many 
other  places  also  fight  with  one  another  for  the  honor  of  being 
his  birth-place. 

IX.  They,  then,  claim    a   stranger,  even   after  his  death, 
because  he  was  a  poet ;  shall  we  reject  this  man  while  he 
alive,  a  man  who  by  his  own  inclination  and  by  our  laws  d* 
actually  belong  to  us "?  especially  when  Archias  has  emplr  j  t  ct 
all  his  genius  with  the  utmost  zeal  in  celebrating  the  ajtrv^ 
and  renown  of  the  Roman  people  ?     For  when  a  young    m  Ha 
he  touched  on  our  wars  against  the  Cimbri,  and  gair*cr\ 
favor  even  of  Caius  Marius  himself,  a  man  who  was  t« 
proof  against  this  sort  of  study.     For  there  was  no  0  *  t. 


FOR  A.  L.  ARCHIAS.  143 

disinclined  to  the  Muses  as  not  willingly  to  endure  that  the 
praise  of  his  labors  should  be  made  immortal  by  means  of 
verse.    (They  say  that   the   great  Themistocles,  the   greatest 
man  that  Athens  produced,  said,  when  some  one  asked  him 
what  sound  or  whose  voice  he  took  the  greatest  delight  in 
hearing,  "  The  voice  of  that  by  whom  his  own  exploits  were 
best  celebrated."     Therefore,  the  great  Marius  was  also  ex- 
ceedingly   attached    to    Lucius  Plotius,  because    he    thought 
that  the  achievement  which  he  had  performed  could  be  cele- 
brated by  his  genius.     And  the  whole  Mithridatic  war,  great 
and  difficult  as  it  was,  and  carried  on  with  so  much  diversity 
of  fortune  by  land  and  sea,  has  been  related  at  length  by  him  ; 
and  the  books  in  which  that  is  sung  of,  not  only  make  illus- 
trious Lucius  Lucullus,  that  most  gallant  and  celebrated  man, 
but  they  do  honor  also  to  the  Roman  people.     For,  while 
Lucullus   was    general,  the    Roman    people    opened   Pontus, 
though  it  was  defended  both  by  the  resources  of  the  king  and 
by  the  character  of  the  country  itself.     Under  the  same  gen- 
eral the  army  of  the  Roman  people,  with  no  very  great  num- 
bers, routed  the  countless  hosts  of  the  Armenians.     It  is  the 
glory  of  the   Roman   people  that,  by  the   wisdom    of  that 
same   general,  the    city    of  the   Cyzicenes,  most   friendly   to 
us,  was  delivered  and  preserved  from  all  the  attacks  of  the 
kind,  and  from  the  very  jaws  as  it  were  of  the  whole  war. 
Ours  is  the   glory  which  will  be  forever   celebrated,  which 
is   derived  from    the    fleet    of  the    enemy  which   was    sunk 
after  its  admirals  had  been   slain,  and  from  the  marvelous 
naval  battle  off  Tenedos:  those  trophies  belong  to  usv  those 
monuments  are   ours,  those  triumphs   are   ours.     Therefore, 
I  say  that  the  men  by  whose  genius  these  exploits  are  cele- 
brated, make  illustrious  at  the  same  time  the  glory  of  the 
Roman  people.     Our  countryman,  Ennius,  was   dear  to  the 
elder  Africanus';  and  even   on  the  tomb   of  the  Scipios  his 
effigy  is  believed  to  be  visible,  carved  in  the  marble.     But  un- 
doubtedly it  is  not  only  the  men  who  are  themselves  praised 
who  are  done  honor  to  by  those  praises,  but  the  name  of  the 
Roman  people  also  is  adorned  by  them.     Cato,  the  ancestor 
of  this  Cato,  is  extolled  to  the  skies.     Great  honor  is  paid  to 
the  exploits  of  th^  Roman  people.     Lastly,  all  those  great 
men,  the   Maximi,  the   Marcelli,  and   the    Fulvii,  are    done 
honor  to,  not  without  all  of  us  having  also  a  share  in  tha 
panegyric 


144  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

X.  Therefore  our  ancestors  received  the  man  who  was  the 
cause  of  all  this,  a  man  of  Kucha?,  into  their  city  as  a  citizen ; 
and  shall  we  reject  from  our  city  a  man  of  Heraclea,  a  man 
sought  by  many  cities,  and  made  a  citizen  of  ours  by  these 
very  laws? 

For  if  any  one  thinks  that  there  is  a  smaller  gain  of  glory 
derived  from  Greek  verses  than  from  Latin  ones,  he  is  greatly 
mistaken,  because  Greek  poetry  is  read  among  all  nations, 
Latin  is  confined  to  its  own  natural  limits,  which  arc  narrow 
enough.  Wherefore,  if  those  achievements  which  we  have 
performed  are  limited  only  by  the  bounds  of  the  whole  world, 
we  ought  to  desire  that,  wherever  our  vigor  and  our  arms 
have  penetrated,  our  glory  and  our  fame  should  likewise  ex- 
tend. Because,  as  this  is  always  an  ample  reward  for  those 
people  whose  achievements  are  the  subject  of  writings,  so 
especially  is  it  the  greatest  inducement  to  encounter  labors 
and  dangers  to  all  men  who  fight  for  themselves  for  the  sake 
of  glory.  How  many  historians  of  his  exploits  is  Alexander 
the  Great  said  to  have  had  with  him  ;  and  he,  when  standing 
on  Cape  Sigeum  at  the  grave  of  Achilles,  said,  "  O  happy 
youth,  to  find  Homer  as  the  panegyrist  of  your  glory!"  And 
he  said  the  truth ;  for,  if  the  Iliad  had  not  existed,  the  same 
tomb  which  covered  his  body  would  have  also  buried  his 
renown.  What,  did  not  our  own  Magnus,  whose  valor  has 
been  equal  to  his  fortune,  present  Theophanes  the  Mitylena?an, 
a  relater  of  his  actions,  with  the  freedom  of  the  city  in  an  as- 
sembly of  the  soldiers'?  And  those  brave  men,  our  country- 
men, soldiers  and  country-bred  men  as  they  were,  still  being 
moved  by  the  sweetness  of  glory,  as  if  they  were  to  some  ex- 
tent partakers  of  the  same  renown,  showed  their  approbation 
of  that  action  with  a  great  shout.  Therefore,  I  suppose,  if 
Archias  were  not  a  Roman  citizen  according  to  the  laws,  he 
could  not  have  contrived  to  get  presented  with  the  freedom 
of  the  city  by  some  general !  Sylla,  when  he  was  giving  it  to 
the  Spaniards  and  Gauls,  would,  I  suppose,  have  refused  him 
if  he  had  asked  for  it!  a  man  whom  we  ourselves  saw  in  the 
public  assembly,  when  a  bad  poet  of  the  common  people  had 
put  a  book  in  his  hand,  because  he  had  made  an  epigram  on 
him  with  every  other  verse  too  long,  immediately  ordered 
some  of  the  things  which  he  was  selling  at  the  moment  to 
be  given  him  as  a  reward,  on  condition  of  not  writing  any 
thing  more  about  him  for  the  future.      Would  not  he  who 


FOR  A.  L.  ARCHIAS.  145 

thought  the  industry  of  a  bad  poet  still  worthy  of  some  reward, 
have  sought  out  the  genius,  and  excellence,  and  copiousness  in 
writing  of  this  man  ?  What  more  need  I  say  !  Could  he  not 
have  obtained  the  freedom  of  the  city  from  Quintus  Metellus 
Pius,  his  own  most  intimate  friend,  who  gave  it  to  many  men, 
either  by  his  own  request,  or  by  the  intervention  of  the  Lucul- 
li  ?  especially  when  Metellus  was  so  anxious  to  have  his  own 
deeds  celebrated  in  writing,  that  he  gave  his  attention  willing?- 
ly  to  poets  born  even  at  Cordova,  whose  poetry  had  a  very 
heavy  and  foreign  flavor. 

XL  For  this  should  not  be  concealed,  which  can  not  possibly 
be  kept  in  the  dark,  but  it  might  be  avowed  openly:  we  are 
all  influenced  by  a  desire  of  praise,  and  the  best  men  are  the 
most  especially  attracted  by  glory.  Those  very  philosophers 
even  in  the  books  which  they  write  about  despising  glory,  put 
their  own  names  on  the  title-page.  In  the  very  act  of  record- 
ing their  contempt  for  renown  and  notoriety,  they  desire  to 
have  their  own  names  known  and  talked  of.  Decimus  Brutus, 
that  most  excellent  citizen  and  consummate  general,  adorned 
the  approaches  to  his  temples  and  monuments  with  the  verses 
of  Attius.  And  lately  that  great  man  Fulvius,  who  fought 
with  the  iEtolians,  having  Ennius  for  his  companion,  did  not 
hesitate  to  devote  the  spoils  of  Mars  to  the  Muses.  Where- 
fore, in  a  city  in  which  generals,  almost  in  arms,  have  paid 
respect  to  the  name  of  poets  and  to  the  temples  of  the  Muses, 
these  judges  in  the  garb  of  peace  ought  not  to  act  in  a  manner 
inconsistent  with  the  honor  of  the  Muses  and  the  safety  of 
— -poets. 

And  that  you  may  do  that  the  more  willingly,  I  will  now 
reveal  my  own  feelings  to  you,  O  judges,  and  I  will  .make  a 
confession  to  you  of  my  own  love  of  glory — too  eager  perhap  , 
but  still  honorable.  For  this  man  has  in  his  verses  touched 
upon  and  begun  the  celebration  of  the  deeds  which  we  in  our 
consulship  did  in  union  with  you,  for  the  safety  of  this  city 
and  empire,  and  in  defense  of  the  life  of  the  citizens  and  of 
the  whole  republic.  And  when  I  had  heard  his  commence- 
ment, because  it  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  great  subject  and  at 
the  same  time  an  agreeable  one,  I  encouraged  him  to  complete 
his  work.     For  virtue  seeks  no  other  1  1  for  its  labors 

and  its  dangers  beyond  that  of  praise  and  renown  ;  and  if 
that  be  denied  to  it,  what  reason  is  there,  O  judges,  why  in  so 
small  and  brief  a  course  of  life  as  is  allotted  to  us,  we  should 

G 


146  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


impose  such  labors  on  ourselves?  Certainly,  if  the  mind 
had  no  anticipations  of  posterity,  and  if  it  were  to  confine  all 
its  thoughts  within  the  same  limits  as  those  by  which  the 
space  of  our  lives  is  bounded,  it  would  neither  break  itself 
with  such  severe  labors,  nor  would  it  be  tormented  with 
such  carts  and  sleepless  anxiety,  nor  would  it  so  often  have  to 
fight  for  its  very  life.  At  present  there  is  a  certain  virtue  in 
every  good  man,  which  night  and  day  stirs  up  the  mind  with 
the  stimulus  of  glory,  and  reminds  it  that  all  mention  of  our 
name  will  not  cease  at  the  same  time  with  our  lives,  but  that 
our  fame  will  endure  to  all  posterity. 

XII.  Do  we  all  who  are  occupied  in  the  affairs  of  the  state, 
and  who  are  surrounded  by  such  perils  and  dangers  in  life,  ap- 
pear to  be  so  narrow-minded,  as,  though  to  the  last  moment 
of  our  lives  we  have  never  passed  one  tranquil  or  easy  mo- 
ot, to  think  that  every  thing  will  perish  at  the  same  time 
as  ourselves?  Ought  we  not,  when  many  most  illustrious 
men  have  with  great  care  collected  and  left  behind  them 
statues  and  images,  representations  not  of  their  minds  but  of 
their  bodies,  much  more  to  desire  to  leave  behind  us  a  copy 
of  our  counsels  and  of  our  virtues,  wrought  and  elaborated 
by  the  greatest  genius?  I  thought,  at  the  very  moment  of 
performing  them,  that  I  was  scattering  and  disseminating  all 
deeds  which  I  was  performing,  all  over  the  world  for  the 

.il  recollection  of  nations.     And  whether  that  delight  is 

to  be  denied  to  my  sou]  after  death,  or  whether,  as  the  wisest 
men  have  thought,  it  will  affect  some  portion  of  my  spirit,  at 
all  events,  I  am  at  present  delighted  with  some  such  idea  and 
hope. 

Preserve  then,  O  judges,  a  man  of  such  virtue  as  that  of 
Ai  which  you  see  testified  to  you  not  only  by  the  worth 

of  his  friends,  but  by  the  length  of  time  during  which  they 
have  been  such  to  him  ;  and  of  such  genius  as  you  ought  to 
think  is  his,  when  you  see  that  it  has  been  sought  by  most 
illustrious  men.  And  his  cause  is  one  which  is  approved  of 
by  the  benevolence  of  the  law,  by  the  authority  of  his  muni- 
cipality, by  the  testimony  of  Lucullus,  and  by  the  docuinent- 
3  of  Metellus.  And  as  this  is  the  case,  we  do  en- 
tr«  U,  O  judges,  if  there  may  be  any  weight  attached,  I 

Will  not  saj  to  human,  but  even  to  divine  recommendation  in 
such  important  matters,  to  receive  under  your  protection  that 
man  who  lias  at  all  times  done  honor  to  your  generals  an  J 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     147 

to  the  exploits  of  the  Koman  people, — who  even  in  these  re- 
cent perils  of  our  own,  and  in  your  domestic  dangers,  promises 
to  give  an  eternal  testimony  of  praise  in  our  favor,  and  who 
forms  one  of  that  band  of  poets  who  have  at  all  times  and  in 
all  nations  been  considered  and  called  holy,  so  that  he  may 
seem  relieved  by  your  humanity,  rather  than  overwhelmed  by 
your  severity. 

The  things  which,  according  to  my  custom,  I  have  said 
briefly  and  simply,  O  judges,  I  trust  have  been  approved  by 
all  of  you.  Those  things  which  I  have  spoken,  without  re- 
garding the  habits  of  the  forum  or  judicial  usage,  both  con- 
cerning the  genius  of  the  man  and  my  own  zeal  in  his  behalf, 
I  trust  have  been  received  by  you  in  good  part.  That  they 
have  been  so  by  him  who  presides  at  this  trial,  I  am  quite 
certain. 


L 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE  OF  THE  PRO- 
POSED MANILIAN  LAW. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

In  the  year  b.c.  67,  Aulus  Gabinius  had  obtained  the  passing  of  a  decree 
by  which  Pompey  was  invested  for  three  years  with  the  supreme  com- 
mand over  all  the  Mediterranean,  and  over  all  the  coasts  of  that  sea,  to 
a  distance  of  four  hundred  furlongs  from  the  sea.  And  in  this  com- 
mand he  had  acted  with  great  vigor  and  with  complete  success  ;  de- 
stroying all  the  pirates'  strongholds,  and  distributing  the  men  themselves 
as  colonists  among  the  inland  towns  of  Asia  Minor  and  Greece.  After 
this  achievement  he  did  not  return  to  Rome,  but  remained  in  Asia, 
making  various  regulations  for  the  towns  which  he  had  conquered. 

During  this  period  Lucullus  had  been  prosecuting  the  war  against  Mith- 
ridates,  and  proceeding  gradually  in  the  reduction  of  Pontus  ;  he  had 
penetrated  also  into  Mesopotamia,  but  had  subsequently  been  distress- 
ed by  seditions  in  his  army,  excited  by  Clodius,  his  brother-in-law  ; 
and  these  seditions  had  given  fresh  courage  to  Mithridates,  who  had 
fallen  on  Caius  Triarius,  one  of  his  lieutenants,  and  routed  his  army 
with  great  slaughter.  At  the  time  that  Pompey  commenced  his  cam- 
ign  against  t  le  pirates,  the  consul  Marcus  Aquillius  Glabrio  was  sent 
to  supersede  Lucullus  in  his  command  ;  but  he  was  perfectly  incompe- 
tent to  oppose  Mithridates,  who  seemed  likely  with  such  an  enemy  to 
recover  all  the  power  of  which  Lucullus  had  deprived  him.  So  in  the 
3'-ear  B.C.  C>F>,  while  Glabrio  was  still  in  Bithynia,  and  Pompey  in  Asia 
Minor,  Caius  Manilius,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  brought  forward  a  prop- 


148  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

osition,  that,  in  addition  to  the  command  which  Pompey  already  pos- 
sessed, he  should  be  invested  with  unlimited  power  in  Bithynia,  Pon- 
tus,  and  Armenia,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  the  war  against -Mith- 
ridates.  The  measure  was  strongly  opposed  by  CatulUs  and  by  Hor- 
tensius,  but  it  was  supported  by  Caesar,  and  by  Cicero  in  the  following 
speech,  which  is  the  first  which  he  ever  addressed  to  the  people  ;  and 
the  proposition  was  carried. 

I.  Although,  O  Romans,  your  numerous  assembly  has  al- 
ways seemed  to  me  the  most  agreeable  body  that  any  one  can 
address,  and  this  place,  which  is  most  honorable  to  plead  in, 
has  also  seemed  always  the  most  distinguished  place  for  de- 
livering an  oration  in,  still  I  have  been  prevented  from  trying 
this  road  to  glory,  which  has  at  ail  times  been  entirely  open 
to  every  virtuous  man,  not  indeed  by  my  own  will,  but  by  the 
system* of  life  which  I  have  adopted  from  my  earliest  years. 
For  as  hitherto  I  have' not  dared,  on  account  of  my  youth,  to 
intrude  upon  the  authority  of  this  place,  and  as  I  considered 
that  no  arguments  out  to  be  brought  to  this  place  except  such 
as  were  the  fruit  of  great  ability,  and  worked  up  with  the 
greatest  industry,  I  have  thought  it  fit  to  devote  all  my  time 
to  the  necessities  of  my  friends.     And  accordingly,  this  place 
has  never  been  unoccupied  by  men  who  were  defending  your 
cause,  and  my  industry,  which  has  been  virtuously  and  hon- 
estly employed  about  the  dangers  of  private  individuals,  has 
received    its   most    honorable    reward    in    your   approbation. 
For  when,  on  account  of  the  adjournment  of  the  comitia,  I 
was  three  times  elected  the  first  praetor  by  all  the  centuries,  I 
easily  perceived,  O  Romans,  what  your  opinion  of  me  was, 
and  what  conduct  you  enjoined  to  others.     Now,  when  there 
is  that  authority  in  me  which  you,  by  conferring  honors  on 
me,  have  chosen  that  there  should  be,  and  all  that  facility,  in 
pleading  which  almost  daily  practice  in  speaking  can  give  a 
vigilant  man  who  has  habituated  himself  to  the  forum,  at  all 
events,  if  I  have  any  authority,  I  will  employ  it  before  those 
who  have  given  it  to  me ;  and  if  I  can  accomplish  any  thing 
by  speaking,  I  will  display  it  to  those  men  above  all  others, 
who  have  thought  fit,  by  their  decision,  to  confer  honors  on 
that  qualification.     And,  above  all  things,  I  see  that  I  have 
reason  to  rejoice  on  this  account,  that,  since  I  am  speaking  in 
this  place,  to  which  I  am  so  entirely  unaccustomed,  I  have  a 
cause  to  advocate  in  which  eloquence  can  hardly  fail  any  one; 
for  I   have  to  speak  of  the  eminent  and  extraordinary  virtue 
of  Cnceus  Pompey ;  and  it  is  harder  for  me  to  find  out  how  to 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     140 

end  a  discourse  on  such  a  "subject,  than  how  to  begin  one.  So 
that  what  I  have  to  seek  for  is  not  so  much  a  variety  of  argu- 
ments, as  moderation  in  employing  thein^^c 

II.  And,  that  my  oration  may  take  its^ork-in  from  the  same 
pource  from  which  all  this  cause  is  to  be  maintained ;  an  im- 
portant war,  and  one  perilous  to  your  revenues  and  to  your 
allies,  is  being  waged  against  you  by  two  most  powerful  kings, 
Mithridates  and  Tigranes.  One  of  these  having  been  left  to- 
himself,  and  the  other  having  been  attacked,  thinks  that  as 
opportunity  offers  itself  to  him  to  occupy  all  Asia.  Letters 
are  brought  from  Asia  every  day  to  Roman  knights,  most 
honorable  men,  who  have  great  property  at  stake,  which  is  all 
employed  in  the  collection  of  your  revenues  ;  and  they,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  intimate  connection  which  I  have  with  their 
order,  have  come  to  me  and  intrusted  me  with  the  task  of 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  republic,  and  warding  off  danger 
from  their  private  fortunes.  Theji  say  that  many  of  the  vil- 
lages of  Bithynia,  which  is  at  present  a  province  belonging  to 
you,  have  been  burnt ;  that  the  kingdom  of  Ariobarzanes, 
which  borders  on  those  districts  from  which  you  derive  a  reve- 
nue, is  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  enemy  ;  that  Lucullus,  aftei- 
having  performed  great  exploits,  is  departing  from  that  war  $ 
that  it  is  not  enough  that  whoever  succeeds  him  should  be 
prepared  for  the  conduct  of  so  important  a  war ;  that  one 
general  is  demanded  and  required  b^all  men,  both  allies  and 
citizens,  for  that  war ;  that  he  alone  is  feared  by  the  enemy, 
and  that  no  one  else  is. 

You  see  what  the  case  is ;  now  consider  what  you  ought 
to  do.  It  seems  to  me  that  I  ought  to  speak  in  the  first 
place  of  the  sort  of  war  that  exists ;  in  the  second  place,  of 
its  importance  ;  and  lastly,  of  the  selection  of  a  general.  The 
kind  of  war  is  such  as  ought  above  all  others  to  excite  and 
inflame  your  minds  to  a  determination  to  persevere  in  it.  It 
is  a  war  in  which  the  glory  of  the  Koman  people  is  at  stake ; 
that  glory  which  has  been  handed  down  to  you  from  your  an- 
cestors, great  indeed  in  every  thing,  but  most  especially  in  mil- 
itary affairs.  The  safety  of  our  friends  and  allies  is  at  stake, 
in  behalf  of  which  your  ancestors  have  Waged  many  most  im> 
portant  wars.  The  most  certain  and  the  largest  revenues  of 
the  Roman  people  are  at  stake ;  and  if  they  be  lost,  you  will 
be  at  a  loss  for  the  luxuries  of  peace,  and  the  sinews  of  war. 
The  property  of  many  citizens  is  at  stake,  which  yo"  ought 


150  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

greatly  to  regard,  both  for  jour  own  sake,  and  for  that  of  the 
republic. 

III.  And  since  you  have  at  all  times  been  covetous  of  glory 
and  greedy  of  praise  beyond  all  other  nations,  you  have  to 
wipe  out  that  stain,  received  in  the  former  Mithridatic  War, 
which  has  now  fixed  itself  deeply  and  eaten  its  way  into  the 
Roman  name,  the  stain  arising  from  the  fact  that  he,  who  in 
one  day  marked  down  by  one  order,  and  one  single  letter,  all 
the  Roman  citizens  in  all  Asia,  scattered  as  they  were  over 
so  many  cities,  for  slaughter  and  butchery,  has  not  only  never 
yet  suffered  any  chastisement  worthy  of  his  wickedness,  but 
now,  twenty-three  years  after  that  time,  is  still  a  king,  and 
a  king  in  such  a  way  that  he  is  not  content  to  hide  himself 
in  Pontus,  or  in  the  recesses  of  Cappadocia,  but  he  seeks  to 
emerge  from   his  hereditary  kingdom,  and  to  range   among 
your  revenues,  in  the  broad  light  of  Asia.     Indeed  up  to  this 
time  your  generals  have  baen  contending  with  the  king  so  as 
to  carry  off*  tokens  of  victory  rather  than  actual  victory.     Lu- 
cius Sylla  has  triumphed,  Lucius  Murena  has  triumphed  over 
Mithridates,  two   most   gallant    men,  and   most   consummate 
generals ;  but  yet  they-  have  triumphed  in  such  a  way  that 
he,  though  routed  and  defeated,  was  still  king.     Rot  but  what 
praise  is  to  be  given  to  those  generals  for  what  they  did.     Par- 
don must  be  conceded  to  them  for  what  they  left  undone ;  be- 
cause the  republic  recalled  Sylla  from  that  war  into  Italy,  and 
Sylla  recalled  Murena. 
*      IV.  But  Mithridates  employed  all  the  time  which  he  had 
\eft  to  him,  not  in  forgetting  the  old  war,  but  in  preparing  for 
a  new  one  ;   and,  after  he  had  built  and  equipped  very  large 
fleets,  and  had  got  together  mighty  armies  from  every  nation 
he  could,  and  had  pretended  to  be  preparing  war  against  the 
tribes  of  the  Bosphorus,  his  neighbors,  sent  embassadors  and 
letters  as  far  as  Spain  to  those  chiefs  with  whom  we  were  at 
war  at  the  time,  in  order  thatias  you  would  by  that  means 
have  war  waged  against  you  irk  the  two  parts  of  the  world 
the  farthest  separated  and  most  remote  of  all  from  one  an- 
other, by  two  separate  enemies  warring  against  you  with  one 
uniform    plan,  you,  hampered  by   the   double   enmity,  might 
find  that  you  were  fighting  for  the  empire  itself.     However, 
the  danger  on  one  side,  the  danger  from  ScrtoriHs  and  from. 
Spain,  which   had  much   the  most   solid  foundation  and  the 
most  formidable  strength,  was  warded  off  by  the  divine  wis- 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.      151 

dom  and  extraordinary  valor  of  Cnaeus  Pompcius.  And  on 
the  other  side  of  the  empire,  affairs  wore  so  managed  by  Lu- 
cius Lucullus,  that  most  illustrious  of  men,  that  the  begin- 
ning of  all  those  achievements  in  those  countries,  great  and 
eminent  as  they  were,  deserve  to  be  attributed  not  to  his 
good  fortune  but  to  his  valor;  but  the  latter  events  which 
have  taken  place  lately,  ought  to  be  imputed  not  to  his  fault, 
but  to  his  ill-fortune.  However,  of  Lucullus  I  will  speak 
hereafter,  and  I  will  speak,  O  Eomans,  in  such  a  manner, 
that  his  true  glory  shall  not  appear  to  be  at  all  disparaged  by 
my  pleading,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  shall  any  undeserved 
credit  seem  to  be  given  to  him.  At  present,  when  we  are 
speaking  of  the  dignity  and  glory  of  your  empire,  since  that 
is  the  beginning  of  my  oration,  consider  what  feelings  you 
think  you  ought  to  entertain. 

V.  Your  ancestors  have  often  waged  war  on  account  of 
their  merchants  and  seafaring  men  having  been  injuriously 
treated.     What  ought  to  be  your  feelings  when  so  many  thou- 
sand Roman  citizens  have  been  put  to  death  by  one  order  and 
at  one  time?     Because  their  embassadors  had  been  spoken  to 
with  insolence,  your  ancestors  determined  that  Corinth,  the 
light  of  all  Greece,  should  be  destroyed.     Will  you  allow  that 
king  to  remain  unpunished,  who  has  murdered  a  lieutenant  of 
the  Roman  people  of  consular  rank,  having  tortured  him  with 
chains  and  scourging,  and  every  sort  of  punishment  ?     They 
would  not  allow  the  freedom  of  Roman  citizens  to  be  diminish- 
ed ;  will  you  be  indifferent  to  their  lives  being  taken  1     They 
avenged  the  privileges  of  our  embassy  when  they  were  violated 
by  a  word  ;  will  you  abandon  an  embassador  who  has  been  put 
to  death  with  every  sort  of  cruelty  ?     Take  care  lest,  as  it  was 
a  most  glorious  thing  for  them,  to  leave  you  such  wide  renown 
and  such  a  powerful  empire,  it  should  be  a  most  discreditable 
thing  for  you,  not  t<|>  be  able  to  defend  and  preserve  that  which 
you  have  received,  i  What  more  shall  I  say  ?     Shall  I  say,  that 
the  safety  of  our  allies'  is  involved  in  the  greatest  hazard  and 
danger  !     King  Ariobarzanes  has  been  driven  from  his  king- 
dom, an  ally  and  friend  of  the  Roman  people  ;  two  kings  are 
threatening  all  Asia,  who  are  not  only  most  hostile  to  you,  but 
also  to  your  friends  and  allies.     And  every  city  throughout 
all  Asia,  and  throughout  all  Greece,  is  compelled  by  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  danger  to  put  its  whole  trust  in  the  expectation 
of  your  assistance.     They  do  not  dare  to  beg  of  you  any  par- 


152  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ticular  general,  especially  since  you  have  sent  them  another, 
nor  do  they  think  that  they  can  do  this  without  extreme  dam 
ger.  They  see  and  feel  this,  the  same  thing  which  you  too 
see  and  feel — that  there  is  one  man  in  whom  all  qualities  are 
in  the  highest  perfection,  and  that  he  is  near,  (which  circum- 
stance makes  it  seem  harder  to  be  deprived  of  him,)  by  whose 
mere  arrival  and  name,  although  it  was  a  maritime  war  for 
which  he  came,  they  are  nevertheless  aware  that  the  attacks 
of  the  enemy  were  retarded  and  repressed.  They  then,  since 
they  can  not  speak  freely,  silently  entreat  you  to  think  them  (as 
you  have  thought  your  allies  in  the  other  provinces)  worthy  of 
having  their  safety  recommended  to  such  a  man  ;  and  to  think 
them  worthy  even  more  than  others,  because  we  often  send 
men  with  absolute  authority  into  such  a  province  as  theirs, 
of  such  character,  that,  even  if  they  protect  them  from  the  ene- 
my, still  their  arrival  among  the  cities  of  the  allies  is  not  very 
different  from  an  invasion  of  the  enemy.  They  used  to  hear 
of  him  before,  now  they  see  him  among-them ;  a  man  of  such 
moderation,  such  mildness,  such  humanity,  that  those  seem  to 
be  the  happiest  people  among  whom  he  remains  for  the  long- 
est time. 

VI.  Wherefore,  if  on  account  of  their  allies,  though  they 
themselves  had  not  been  roused  by  any  injuries,  your  ancestors 
waged  war  against  Antiochus,  against  Philip,  against  the  ^Eto- 
lians,  and  against  the  Carthaginians  ;  with  hov>r  much  earnest- 
ness ought  you,  when  you  yourselves  have  been  provoked  by 
injurious  treatment,  to  defend  the  safety  of  the  allies,  and  at 
the  same  time,  the  dignity  of  your  empire  1  especially  when 
your  greatest  revenues  are  at  stake.  For  the  revenues  of  the 
other  provinces,  O  Romans,  are  such  that  we  can  scarcely 
derive  enough  from  them  for  the  protection  of  the  provinces 
themselves.  But  Asia  is  so  rich  and  so  productive,  that  in  the 
fertility  of  its  soil,  and  in  the  variety  of  its  fruits,  and  in  the 
vastness  of  its  pasture  lands,  and  in  the  multitude  of  all  those 
things  which  are  matters  of  exportation,  it  is  greatly  superior 
to  all  other  countries.  Therefore,  O  Romans,  this  province, 
if  you  have  any  regard  for  what  tends  to  your  advantage  in 
time  of  war,  and  to  your  dignity  in  time  of  peace,  must  be  de- 
fended by  you,  not  only  from  all  calamity,  but  from  all  fear 
of  calamity.  For  in  other  matters  when  calamity  comes  on 
one,  then  damage  is  sustained  ;  but  in  the  case  of  revenues, 
not  only  the  arrival  of  evil,  but  the  bare  dread  of  it,  brings  dis- 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     153 

aster.  For  when  the  troops  of  the  enemy  are  not  far  off,  even 
though  no  actual  irruption  takes  place,  still  the  flocks  are 
abandoned,  agriculture  is  relinquished,  the  sailing  of  merchants 
is  at  an  end.  And  accordingly,  neither -from  harbor  dues, 
nor  from  tenths,  nor  from  the  tax  on  pasture  lands,  can  any 
revenue  be  maintained.  And  therefore  it  often  happens  that 
the  produce  of  an  entire  year  is  lost  by  one  rumor  of  danger, 
and  by  one  alarm  of  war.  What  do  you  think  ought  to  be 
the  feelings  .of  those  who  pay  us  tribute,  or  of  those  who  get 
it  in,  and  exact  it,  when  two  kings  with  very  numerous  armies 
are  all  but  on  the  spot?  when  one  inroad  of  cavalry  may  in  a 
very  short  time  carry  off  the  revenue  of  a  whole  year?  when 
the  publicans  think  that  they  retain  the  large  households  of 
slaves  which  they  have  in  the  salt-works,  in  the  fields,  in  the 
harbors,  and  custom-houses,  at  the  greatest  risk  ?  Do.  you 
think  that  you  can  enjoy  these  advantages  unless  you  preserve 
those  men  who  are  productive  to  you,  free  not  only,  as  I  said 
before,  from  calamity,  but  even  from  the  dread  of  calamity  % 

VII.  And  even  this  must  not  be  neglected  by  you,  which  '  j 
I  had  proposed  to  myself  as  the  last  thing  to  be  mentioned, 
when  I  was  to  speak  of  the  kind  of  war,  for  it  concerns  the 
property  of  many  Roman  citizens ;  whom  you,  as  becomes 
your  Avisdom,  O  Romans,  must  regard  with  the  most  careful 
solicitude.  The  publicans,1  most  honorable  and  accomplished 
men,  have  taken  all  their  resources  and  all  their  wealth  into 
that  province ;  and  their  property  and  fortunes  ought,  by 
themselves,  to  be  an  object  of  your  special  care.  In  truth,  it 
we  have  always  considered  the  revenues  as  the  sinews  of  the 
republic,  certainly  we  shall  be  right  if  we  call  that  order  of 
men  which  collects  them,  the  prop  and  support  of  all  the  oth- 
er orders.  In  the  next  place,  clever  and  industrious  men,  of 
all  the  other  orders  of  the  state,  are  some  of  them  actually 
trading  themselves  in  Asia,  and  you  ought  to  show  a  regard 
for  their  interests  in  their  absence  ;  and  others  of  them  have 
large  sums  invested  in  that  province.  It  will,  therefore,  be- 
come your  humanity  to  protect  a  large  number  of  those  cit- 
izens from  misfortune ;  it  will  become  your  wisdom  to  per- 
ceive that  the  misfortune  of  many  citizens,  can  not  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  misfortune  of  the  republic.  In  truth,  firstly, 
it  is  of  but  little  consequence  for  you  afterward  to  recover 

1  It  has  been  said  before  that  the  publicans  were  taken  almost  ex- 
clusively from  the  equestrian  order. 

G2 


154  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

for  the  publicans  revenues  which  have  been  once  lost ;  for  the 
same  men  have  not  afterward  the  same  power  of  contracting 
for  them,  and  others  have  not  the  inclination,  through  fear. 
In  the  next  place,  'that  which  the  same  Asia,  and  that  same 
Mithridates  taught  us,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Asiatic  war, 
that,  at  all  events,  we,  having  learnt  by  disaster,  ought  to  keep 
in  our  recollection.  For  we  know  that  then,  when  many  had 
lost  large  fortunes  in  Asia,  all  credit  failed  at  Rome,  from  pay- 
ments being  hindered.  For  it  is  not  possible  for  many  men 
to  lose  their  property  and  fortunes  in  one  city,  without  draw- 
ing many  along  with  them  into  the  same  vortex  of  disaster. 
But  do  you  now  preserve  the  republic  from  this  misfortune ; 
and  believe  me,  (you  yourselves  see  that  it  is  the  case,)  this 
credit,  and  this  state  of  the  money-market  which  exists  at 
Rome  and  in  the  forum,  is  bound  up  with,  and  is  insepara- 
ble from,  those  fortunes  which  are  invested  in  Asia.  Those 
fortunes  can  not  fall  without  credit  here  being  undermined 
by  the  same  blow,  and  perishing  along  with  them.  Consider, 
then,  whether  you  ought  to  hesitate  to  apply  yourselves  with 
all  zeal  to  that  war,  in  which  the  glory  of  your  name,  the  safe- 
ty of  your  allies,  your  greatest  revenues,  and  the  fortunes  of 
numbers  of  your  citizens,  will  be  protected  at  the  same  time 
as  the  republic! 

VIII.  Since  I  have  spoken  of  the  description  of  war,  I  will 
now  say  a  few  words  about  its  magnitude.  For  this  may  be 
said  of  it — that  it  is  a  kind  of  war  so  necessary,  that  it  must 
absolutely  be  waged,  and  yet  not  one  of  such  magnitude  as  to 
be  formidable.  And  in  this  we  must  take  the  greatest  care 
that  those  things  do  not  appear  to  you  contemptible  which 
require  to  be  most  diligently  guarded  against.  And  that  all 
men  may  understand  that  I  give  Lucius  Lucullus  all  the  praise 
that  is  due  to  a  gallant  man,  and  most  wise1  man,  and  to  a 
most  consummate  general,  I  say  that  when  he  iirst  arrived  in 
Asia,  the  forces  of  Mithridates  were  most  numerous,  well  ap- 
pointed, and  provided  with  every  requisite ;  and  that  the  finest 
city  in  Asia,  and  the  one,  too,  that  was  most  friendly  to  us, 
the  city  of  Cyzicus,  was  besieged  by  the  king  in  person,  with 

1  The  Latin  is  "  forti  viro,  et  sapicntissimo  homini"  and  this  opposi- 
tion of  vir  and  homo  is  not  uncommon  in  Cicero's  orations.  "  Homo  is 
nearly  synonymous  with  vir,  but  with  this  distinction,  that  homo  is  used 
of  a  man  considered  as  an  intellectual  and  moral  being. — namely,  where 
personal  qualities  are  to  be  denoted  ;  whereas  vir  signifies  a  man  in  his 
relations  to  the  state." — Riddle,  Lat.  Diet.  v.  Homo. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     155 

an  enormous  army,  and  that  the  siege  had  been  pressed  most 
vigorously,  when  Lucius  Lucullus,  by  his  valor,  and  perse- 
verance, and  wisdom,  relieved  it  from  the  most  extreme  dan- 
ger. Yl  say  that  he  also,  when  general,  defeated  and  destroy - 
jed^that  great  and  well-appointed  fleet,  which  the  chiefs  of 
Sertorius's  party  were  leading  against  Italy  with  furious  zeal ; 
I  say  besides,  that  by  him  numerous  armies  of  the  enemy  were 
destroyed  in  several  battles,  and  that  Pontus  was  opened  to 
our  legions,  which  before  his  time  had  been  closed  against  the 
Roman  people  on  every  side ;  and  that  Sinope  and  Amisus, 
towns  in  which  the  king  had  palaces,  adorned  and  furnished 
with  every  kind  of  magnificence,  and  many  other  cities  of 
Pontus  and  Cappadocia,  were  taken  by  his  mere  approach 
and  arrival  near  them ;  that  the  king  himself  was  stripped  of 
the  kingdom  possessed  by  his  father  and  his  grandfather,  and 
forced  to  betake  himself  as  a  suppliant  to  other  kings  and 
other  nations  ;  and  that  all  these  great  deeds  were  achieved 
without  any  injury  to  the  allies  of  the  Roman  people,  or  any 
diminution  of  its  revenues.  I  think  that  this  is  praise  enough  ; 
— such  praise  that  you  must  see,  O  Romans,  that  Lucius  Lu- 
cullus has  not  been  praised  as  much  from  this  rostrum  by  any 
one  of  these  men  who  are  objecting  to  this  law  and  arguing 
against  our  cause. 

IX.  Perhaps  now  it  will  be  asked,  how,  when  all  this  has 
been  already  done,  there  can  be  any  great  war  left  behind.  I 
will  explain  this,  O  Romans ;  for  this  does  not  seem  an  un- 
reasonable question.  At  first  Mithridates  fled  from  his  king- 
dom, as  Medea  is  formerly  said  to  have  fled  from  the  same  re- 
gion of  Pontus ;  for  they  say  that  she,  in  her  flight,  strewed 
about  the  limbs  of  her  brother  in  those  places  along  which  her 
father  was  likely  to  pursue  her,  in  order  that  the  collection  of 
them,  dispersed  as  they  were,  and  the  grief  which  would  af- 
flict his  father,  might  delay  the  rapidity  of  his  pursuit.  Mith- 
ridates, flying  in  the  same  manner,  left  in  Pontus  the  whole 
of  the  vast  quantity  of  gold  and  silver,  and  of  beautiful  things 
which  he  had  inherited  from  his  ancestors,  and  which  he  him- 
self had  collected  and  brought  into  his  own  kingdom,  having 
obtained  them  by  plunder  in  the  former  war  from  all  Asia. 
While  our  men  were  diligently  occupied  in  collecting  all  this, 
the  king  himself  escaped  out  of  their  hands.  And  so  grief  re- 
tarded the  father  of  Medea  in  his  pursuit,  but  delight  delay- 
ed our  men.     In  this  alarm  and  flight  of  his,  Tigranes,  the 


156  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

king  of  Armenia,  received  him,  encouraged  him  while  despair- 
ing of  his  fortunes,  gave  him  new  spirit  in  his  depression,  and 
recruited  with  new  strength  his  powerless  condition.  And  aft- 
er Lucius  Lueullus  arrived  in  his  kingdom,  very  many  tribes 
were  excited  to  hostilities  against  our  general.  For  those  na- 
tions which  the  Roman  people  never  had  thought  either  of  at- 
tacking in  war  or  tampering  with,  had  been  inspired  with  fear. 
There  was,  besides,  a  general  opinion  which  had  taken  deep 
root,  and  had  spread  over  all  the  barbarian  tribes  in  those 
districts,  that  our  army  had  been  led  into  those  countries  with 
the  object  of  plundering  a  very  wealthy  and  most  religiously 
worshiped  temple.  And  so,  many  powerful  nations  were 
roused  against  us  by  a  fresh  dread  and  alarm.  But  our  army, 
although  it  had  taken  a  city  of  Tigranes's  kingdom,  and  had 
fought  some  successful  battles,  still  was  out  of  spirits  at  its 
immense  distance  from  Rome,  and  its  separation  from  its 
friends.  At  present  I  will  not  say  more ;  for  the  result  of 
these  feelings  of  theirs  was,  that  they  were  more  anxious  for 
a  speedy  return  home  than  for  any  farther  advance  into  the 
enemies'  country.  But  ]\Iithridatcs  had  by  this  time  strength- 
ened his  army  by  re-enforcements  of  those  men  belonging  to 
his  own  dominions  who  had  assembled  together,  and  by  large 
promiscuous  forces  belonging  to  many  other  kings  and  tribes. 
And  we  see  that  this  is  almost  invariably  the  cage,  that  kings 
when  in  misfortune  easily  induce  many  to  pity  and  assist  them, 
especially  such  as  are  either  kings  themselves,  or  who  live  un- 
der kingly  power,  because  to  them  the  name  of  king  appears 
something  great  and  sacred.  And  accordingly  he,  when  con- 
quered, was  able  to  accomplish  what,  when  he  was  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  his  powers,  he  never  dared  even  to  wish  for. 
For  when  he  had  returned  to  his  kingdom,  he  was  not  con- 
tent (though  that  had  happened  to  him  beyond  all  his  hopes) 
with  again  setting  his  foot  on  that  land  after  he  had  been  ex- 
pelled from  it ;  but  he  even  volunteered  an  attack  on  your 
army,  flushed  as  it  was  with  glory  and  victory.  Allow  me, 
in  this  place,  O  Romans,  (just  as  poets  do  who  write  of  Ro- 
man affairs.)  to  pass  over  our  disaster,  which  was  so  great 
that  it  came  to  Lucius  Lueullus' s  ears,  not  by  means  of  a 
messenger  dispatched  from  the  scene  of  action,  but  through 
the  report  of  common  conversation.  At  the  very  time  of  this 
misfortune, — of  this  most  terrible  disaster  in  the  whole  war, 
Lucius  Lueullus,  who  might  have  been  able,  to  a  great  extent, 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     157 

to  remedy  the  calamity,  being  compelled  by  your  orders,  be- 
cause you  thought,  according  to  the  old  principle  of  your  an- 
cestors, that  limits  ought  to  be  put  to  length  of  command, 
discharged  a  part  of  his  soldiers  who  had  served  their  appoint- 
ed time,  and  delivered  over  part  to  Glabrio.  1  pass  over  many 
things  designedly ;  but  you  yourselves  can  easily  conjecture 
how  important  you  ought  to  consider  that  war  which  most 
powerful  kings  are  uniting  in, — which  disturbed  nations  are 
renewing, — which  nations,  whose  strength  is  unimpaired,  are 
undertaking,  and  which  a  new  general  of  yours  has  to  en- 
counter after  a  veteran  army  has  been  defeated. 

X.  I  appear  to  have  said  enough  to  make  you  see  why  this 
war  is  in  its  very  nature  unavoidable,  in  its  magnitude  dan- 
gerous. It  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  the  general  who  ought 
to  be  selected  for  that  war,  and  appointed  to  the  management 
of  such  important  affairs. 

I  wish,  O  Romans,  that  you  had  such  an  abundance  of 
brave  and  honest  men,  that  it  was  a  difficult  subject  for  your 
deliberations,  whom  you  thought  most  desirable  to  be  appoint- 
ed to  the  conduct  of  such  important  affairs,  and  so  vast  a  war. 
But  now,  when  there  is:  Cnseus  Pompeius  alone,  who  has  ex- 
ceeded in  valor,  not  only  the  glory  of  these  men  who  are  now 
alive,  but  even  all  recollections  of  antiquity,  what  is  there 
that,  in  this  case,  can  raise  a  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  one  I 
For  I  think  that  these  four  qualities  are  indispensable  in  a 
great  general, — knowledge  of  military  affairs,  valor,  authori- 
ty and  good  fortune.  Who,  then,  ever  was,  or  ought  to  have 
been,  better  acquainted  with  military  affairs  than  this  man  1 
who,  the  moment  that  he  left  school  and  finished  his  educa- 
tion as  a  boy,  at  a  time  when  there  was  a  most  important 
war  going  on,  and  most  active  enemies  were  banded  against 
us,  went  to  his  father's  army  and  to  the  discipline  of  the 
camp ;  who,  when  scarcely  out  of  his  boyhood,  became  a  sol- 
dier of  a  consummate  general, — when  entering  on  manhood, 
became  himself  the  general  of  a  mighty  army ;*  who  has  been 
more  frequently  engaged  with  the  enemy,  than  any  one  else 
has  ever  disputed  with  an  adversary ;  who  has  himself,  as 
general,  conducted  more  wars  than  other  men  have  read  of; 
who  has  subdued  more  provinces  than  other  men  have  wished 
for ;  whose  youth  was  trained  to  the  knowledge  of  military 
affairs,  not  by  the  precepts  of  others,  but  by  commanding 
himself, — not  by  the  disasters  of  war,  but  by  victories, — not 


15S  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

by  campaigns,  but  by  triumphs.  In  short,  what  description 
of  war  can  there  be  in  which  the  fortune  of  the  republic  has 
not  given  him  practice?  Civil  war,  African  war,  Transal- 
pine war,  Spanish  war,  promiscuous  war  of  the  most  warlike 
cities  and  nations,  servile  war,  naval  war,  every  variety  and 
diversity  of  wars  and  of  enemies,  has  not  only  been  encount- 
ered by  this  one  man,  but  encountered  victoriously  ;  and  these 
exploits  show  plainly  that  there  is  no  circumstance  in  milita- 
ry practice  which  can  elude  the  knowledge  of  this  man. 
y*  XI.  But  now,  what  language  can  be  found  equal  to  the 
valor  of  Cna?us  Pompeius?  What  statement  can  any  one 
make  which  shall  be  either  worthy  of  him,  or  new  to  you, 
or  unknown  to  any  one  ?  For  those  are  not  the  only  virtues 
of  a  general  which  are  usually  thought  so, — namely,  industry 
in  business,  fortitude  amid  dangers,  energy  in  acting,  rapidity 
in  executing,  wisdom  in  foreseeing  ;  which  all  exist  in  as  great 
perfection  in  that  one  man  as  in  all  the  other  generals  put  to- 
gether whom  we  have  either  seen  or  heard  of.  Italy  is  my 
witness,  which  that  illustrious  conqueror  himself,  Lucius  Syl- 
la,  confessed  had  been  delivered  by  this  man's  valor  and  ready 
assistance.  Sicily  is  my  witness,  which  he  released  when  it 
was  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  many  dangers,  not  by  the  dread 
of  his  power,  but  by  the  promptitude  of  his  wisdom.  Africa 
is  my  witness,  which,  having  been  overwhelmed  by  numerous 
armies  of  enemies,  overflowed  with  the  blood  of  those  same 
enemies.  Gaul  is  my  witness,  through  which  a  road  into 
Spain  was  laid  open  to  our  legions  by  the  destruction  of  the 
Gauls.  Spain  is  my  witness,  which  has  repeatedly  seen  our 
many  enemies  there  defeated  and  subdued  by  this  man.  Again 
and  again,  Italy  is  my  witness,  which,  when  it  was  weighed 
down  by  the  disgraceful  and  perilous  servile  war,  entreated 
aid  from  this  man,  though  he  was  at  a  distance;  and  that 
war,  having  dwindled  down  and  wasted  away  at  the  expect- 
ation of  Pompeius,  was  destroyed  and  buried  by  his  arrival. 
But  now,  also  every  coast,  all  foreign  nations  and  countries, 
all  seas,  both  in  their  open  waters  and  in  every  bay,  and  creek, 
and  harbor,  are  my  witnesses.  For  during  these  last  years, 
what  place  in  any  part  of  the  sea  had  so  strong  a  garrison  as 
to  be  safe  from  him  ?  what  place  was  so  much  hidden  as  to 
escape  his  notice?  Who  ever  put  to  sea  without  being  aware 
that  he  was  committing  himself  to  the  hazard  of  death  or 
slavery,  either  from    storms  or  from  the  sea  being  crowded 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     159 

with  pirates?  Who  would  ever  have  supposed  that  a  war  of 
such  extent,  so  mean,  so  old  a  war,  a  war  so  extensive  in  its 
theatre  and  so  widely  scattered,  could  have  been  terminated 
by  all  our  general?  put  together  in  one  year,  or  by  one  gen- 
eral in  all  the  years  of  his  life?  In  all  these  later  years  what 
province  have  you  had  free  from  pirates  ?  what  revenue  has 
been  safe?  what  ally  have  you  been  able  to  protect?  to  whom 
have  your  fleets  been  a  defense?  How  many  islands  do  you 
suppose  have  been  deserted  ?  how  many  cities  of  the  allies  do 
you  think  have  been  either  abandoned  out  of  fear  of  the  pi- 
rates, or  have  been  taken  by  them  ? 

XII.  But  why  do  I  speak  of  distant  events?  It  was — it 
was,  indeed,  formerly — a  characteristic  of  the  Roman  people  to 
carry  on  its  wars  at  a  distance  from  home,  and  to  defend  by  the 
bulwarks  of  its  power  not  its  own  homes,  but  the  fortunes  of 
its  allies.  Need  I  say,  that  the  sea  has  during  all  these  latter 
years  been  closed  against  your  allies,  when  even  our  own  armies 
never  ventured  to  cross  over  from  Brundusium,  except  in  the 
depth  of  winter  ?  Need  I  complain  that  men  who  were  com- 
ing to  you  from  foreign  nations  were  taken  prisoners,  when 
even  the  embassadors  of  the  Roman  people  were  forced  to  be 
ransomed  ?  Need  I  Bay,  that  the  sea  was  not  safe  for  mer- 
chants,  when  twelve  axes1  came  into  the  power  of  the  pirates  ? 
Need  I  mention,  how  Cnidus,  and  Colophon,  and  Samos,  most 
noble  cities,  and  others  too  in  countless  numbers,  were  taken 
by  them,  when  you  know^that  your  own  harbors,  and  those 
harbors  too  from  which  you  derive,  as  it  were,  your  very  life 
and  breath,  were  in  the  power  of  the  pirates?  Are  you  igno- 
rant that  the  harbor  of  Caieta,  that  illustrious  harbor,  when 
iull  of  ships,  was  plundered  by  the  pirates  under  the  very  eyes 
of  the  praetor?  and  that  from  Misenum,  the  children  of  the 
very  man  who  had  before  that  waged  war  against  the  pirates 
in  that  place,  were  earned  off  by  the  pirates  ?  For  why  should 
I  complain  of  the  disaster  of  Ostia,  and  of  that  stain  and  blot 
on  the  republic,  when  almost  under  your  very  eyes,  that  fleet 
which  was  under  the  command  of  a  Roman  consul  was  taken 
and  destroyed  by  the  pirates?  O  ye  immortal  gods!  could 
the  incredible  and  godlike  virtue  of  one  man  in  so  short  a  time 
bring  so  much  light  to  the  republic,  that  you  who  had  lately 

1  The  Scholiast  says  that  a  consul  named  Milienus  (whose  name,  how- 
ever, does  not  appear  in  the  Fasti)  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  pirates,  and 
sold  with  his  ensirns  of  office.     The  axes  mean  his  fasces. 


160  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

been  used  to  see  a  fleet  of  the  enemy  before  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber,  should  now  hear  that  there  is  not  one  ship  belonging 
to  the  pirates  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic1?  And  although 
you  have  seen  with  what  rapidity  these  things  were  done,  still 
that  rapidity  ought  not  to  be  passed  over  by  me  in  speaking  of 
them. — For  who  ever,  even  if  he  were  only  going  for  the  pur- 
pose of  transacting  business  or  making  profit,  contrived  in  so 
short  a  time  to  visit  so  many  places,  and  to  perform  such  long 
journeys,  with  as  great  celerity  as  Cnams  Pompeius  has  per- 
formed his  voyage,  bearing  with  him  the  terrors  of  war  as  our 

JO'  O 

general  ?  He,  when  the  weather  could  hardly  be  called  open 
for  sailing,  went  to  Sicily,  explored  the  coasts  of  Africa ;  from 
thence  he  came  with  his  fleet  to  Sardinia,  and  these  three  great 
granaries  of  the  republic  he  fortified  with  powerful  garrisons 
and  fleets ;  when,  leaving  Sardinia,  he  came  to  Italy,  having 
secured  the  two  Spains  and  Cisalpine  Gaul  with  garrisons  and 
ships.  Having  sent  vessels  also  to  the  coast  of  Illyricum,  and 
to  every  part  of  Achaia  and  Greece,  he  also  adorned  the  two 
seas  of  Italy  with  very  large  fleets,  and  very  sufficient  garri- 
sons;  and  he  himself  going  in  person,  added  all  Cilicia  to  the 
dominions  of  the  Roman  people,  on  the  forty-ninth  day  after 
he  S3t  out  from  Brundusium.  All  the  pirates  who  were  any 
where  to  be  found,  were  either  taken  prisoners  and  put  to  death, 
or  else  had  surrendered  themselves  voluntarily  to  the  power 
and  authority  of  this  one  man.  Also,  when  the  Cretans  had 
sent  embassadors  to  implore  his  mercy  even  into  Pamphylia 
to  him,  he  did  not  deny  them  hopes  of  being  allowed  to  sur- 
render, and  he  exacted  hostages  from  them.  And  thus  Cnaeua 
Pompeius  at  the  end  of  winter  prepared,  at  the  beginning  of 
spring  undertook,  and  by  the  middle  of  summer  terminated;, 
this  most  important  war,  which  had  lasted  so  long,  which  was 
scattered  in  such  distant  and  such  various  places,  and  by  which 

7 very  nation  and  country  was  incessantly  distressed. 
XIII.  This  is  the  godlike  and  incredible  virtue  of  that  gen- 
eral. What  more  shall  I  say  ?  How  many  and  how  great 
are  his  other  exploits  which  1  began  to  mention  a  short  time 
back ;  for  we  are  not  only  to  seek  for  skill  in  war  in  a  con- 
summate and  perfect  general,  but  there  arc  many  other  emi- 
nent qualities  which  are  the  satellites  and  companions  of  this 
virtue.  And  first  of  all,  how  great  should  be  the  incorrupt- 
ibility of  generals!  How  great  should  be  their  moderation 
in  every  thing!   how  perfect  their  good  faith  !      How  miners- 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW     161 

al  should  be  their  affability  !  how  brilliant  their  genius !  how 
tender  their  humanity !  And  let  us  briefly  consider  to  what 
extent  these  qualities  exist  in  Cnasus  Pompeius.  For  they 
are  all  of  the  highest  importance,  0  Romans,  but  yet  they  are 
to  be  seen  and  ascertained  more  by  comparison  with  the  con- 
duct of  others  than  by  any  display  which  they  make  of  them- 
selves. For  how  can  we  rank  a  man  among  generals  of  any 
class  at  all,  if  centurionships1  are  sold,  and  have  been  con- 
stantly sold  in  his  army'?  What  great  or  honorable  thoughts 
can  we  suppose  that  that  man  cherishes  concerning  the  repub- 
lic, who  lias  either  distributed  the  money  which  was  taken 
from  the  treasury  for  the  conduct  of  the  war  among  the  mag- 
istrates, out  of  ambition2  to  keep  his  province,  or,  out  of  av- 
arice, has  left  it  behind  him  at  Rome,  invested  for  his  own 
advantage  %  Your  murmurs  show,  O  Romans,  that  you  rec- 
ognize, in  my  description,  men  who  have  done  these  things. 
But  I  name  no  one,  so  that  no  one  can  be  angry  Avith  me, 
without  making  confession  beforehand  of  his  own  malprac- 
tices. But  who  is  there  who  is  ignorant  what  terrible  distresses 
our  armies  suffer  wherever  they  go,  through  this  covetousness 
of  our  generals  ?  Recollect  the  marches  which,  during  these 
latter  years,  our  generals  have  made  in  Italy,  through  the 
lands  and  towns  of  the  Roman  citizens  ;  then  you  will  more 
easily  imagine  what  is  the  course  pursued  among  foreign  na- 
tions. Do  you  think  that  of  late  years  more  cities  of  the 
enemy  have  been  destroyed  by  the  arms  of  your  soldiers,  or 
more  cities  of  your  own  allies  by  their  winter  campaigns  ? 
For  that  general  who  does  not  restrain  himself  can  never  re- 
strain his  army;  nor  can  he  be  strict  in  judging  others  who 
is  unwilling  for  others  to  be  strict  in  judging  him.  Do  we 
wonder  now  that  this  man  should  be  so  far  superior  to  all 
others,  when  his  legions  arrived  in  Asia  in  such  order  that 
not  only  no  man's  hand  in  so  numerous  an  army,  but  not  even 
any  man's  footstep  was  said  to  have  done  the  least  injury  to 
any  peaceful  inhabitant  1  But  now  we  have  daily  rumors — 
ay,  and  letters  too — brought  to  Rome  about  the  way  in  which 
the  soldiers  are  behaving  in  their  winter-quarters ;  not  only 

1  The  Scholiast  says  that  Cicero  is  here  hinting  at  Glabrio  the  consul, 
or  at  the  younger  Marius. 

s  Lucullus  is  supposed  to  be  meant  here,  as  it  is  said  tha'-  he  had  em- 
loved  large  sums  in  soliciting  the  votes  of  influential  men,  so  as  to  be 
eft  in  command  of  the  province  of  Asia,  in  which  he  had  amassed  enor- 
mous riches. 


I 


1C2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

is  no  once  compelled  to  spend  money  on  the  entertainment  of 
the  troops,  but  he  is  not  permitted  to  do  so,  even  if  he  wish. 
For  our  ancestors  thought  tit  that  the  houses  of  our  allies  and 
friends  should  be  a  shelter  to  our  soldiers  from  the  winter,  not 
a  theatre  for  the  exercise  of  their  avarice. 

XIV.  Come  now,  consider  also  what  moderation  he  has 
displayed  in  other  matters  also.  How  was  it,  do  you  sup- 
pose, that  he  was  able  to  display  that  excessive  rapidity,  and 
to  perform  that  incredible  voyage  ?  For  it  was  no  unexam- 
pled number  of  rowers,  no  hitherto  unknown  skill  in  naviga- 
tion, no  new  winds,  which  bore  him  so  swiftly  to  the  most 
distant  lands;  but  those  circumstances  which  are  wont  to 
delay  other  men  did  not  delay  him.  No  avarice  turned  him 
aside  from  his  intended  route  in  pursuit  of  some  plunder  or 
other;  no  lust  led  him  away  in  pursuit  of  pleasure;  no  lux- 
ury allured  him  to  seek  its  delights  ;  the  illustrious"  reputation 
of  no  city  tempted  him  to  make  its  acquaintance ;  even  labor 
did  not  turn  him  aside  to  seek  rest.  Lastly,  as  for  the  stat- 
ues, and  pictures,  and  other  embellishments  of  Greek  cities, 
which  other  men  think  worth  carrying  away,  he  did  not  think 
them  worthy  even  of  a  visit  from  him.  And,  therefore,  every 
one  in  those  countries  looks  upon  Cna?us  Porapeius  as  some 
one  descended  from  heaven,  not  as  some  one  sent  out  from 
this  city.  Now  they  begin  to  believe  that  there  really  were 
formerly  Romans  of  the  same  moderation ;  which  hitherto  has 
seemed  to  foreign  nations  a  thing  incredible,  a  false  and  ridic- 
ulous tradition.  Now  the  splendor  of  }Tour  dominion  is  real- 
ly brilliant  in  the  eyes  of  those  nations.  Now  they  under- 
stand that  it  was  not  without  reason  that,  when  we  had  man- 
istrates  of  the  same  moderation,  their  ancestors  preferred  be- 
ing subject  to  the  Roman  people  to  being  themselves  lords  of 
other  nations.  But  now  the  access  of  all  private  individuals 
to  him  is  so  easy,  their  complaints  of  the  injuries  received  from 
others  are  so  little  checked,  that  he  who  in  dignity  is  superior 
to  the  noblest  men,  in  affability  seems  to  be  on  a  par  with  the 
meanest.  How  great  his  wisdom  is,  how  great  his  authority 
and  fluency  in  speaking, — and  that  too  is  a  quality  in  which 
the  dignity  of  a  general  is  greatly  concerned, — you,  O  Romans, 
have  often  experienced  yourselves  in  this  very  place.  But  how 
great  do  you  think  his  good  faith  must  have  been  toward  your 
allies,  when  the  enemies  of  all  nations  have  placed  implicit  con- 
fidence in  it  ?     His  humanity  is  such  that  it  is  difficult  to  say. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     163 

whether  the  enemy  feared  his  valor  more  when  fighting  against 
him,  or  loved  his  mildness  more  when  they  had  been  conquer- 
ed by  him.  And  will  any  one  doubt,  that  this  important  war 
ouo-ht  to  be  intrusted  to  him,  who  seems  to  have  been  born 
by  some  especial  design  and  favor  of  the  gods  for  the  express 
purpose  of  finishing  all  the  wars  which  have  existed  in  their 
own  recollection  ? 

XV.  And  since  authority  has  great  weight  in  conducting 
wars,  and  in  discharging  the  duties  of  military  command,  it 
certainlv  is  not  doubtful  to  any  one  that  in  that  point  this 
same  general  is  especially  pre-eminent.  And  who  is  ignorant 
that  it  is  of  great  importance  in  the  conduct  of  wars,  what 
opinion  the  enemy,  and  what  opinion  the  allies  have  of  your 
generals,  when  we  know  that  men  are  not  less  influenced  in 
such  serious  aftliirs,  to  despise,  or  fear,  or  hate,  or  love  a  man 
by  common  opinion  and  common  report,  than  by  sure  grounds 
and  principles  ?  What  name,  then,  in  the  whole  world  has 
ever  been  more  illustrious  than  his?  whose  achievements  have 
ever  been  equal  to  his  ?  And,  what  gives  authority  in  the 
highest  degree,  concerning  whom  have  you  ever  passed  such 
numerous  and  such  honorable  resolutions?  Do  you  believe 
that  there  is  any  where  in  the  whole  world  any  place  so  des- 
ert that  the  renown  of  that  day  has  not  reached  it,  when  the 
whole  Roman  people,  the  forum  being  crowded,  and  all  the 
adjacent  temples  from  which  this  place  can  be  seen  being 
completely  filled, — the  whole  Roman  people,  I  say,  demanded 
Cnseus  Pompeius  alone  as  their  general  in  the  war  in  which 
the  common  interests  of  all  nations  were  at  stake  ?  There- 
fore, not  to  say  more  on  the  subject,  nor  to  confirm  what  I 
say  by  instances  of  others  as  to  the  influence  which  authority 
has  in  war,  all  our  instances  of  splendid  exploits  in  war  must 
be  taken  from  this  same  Cngeus  Pompeius.  The  very  day 
that  he  was  appointed  by  you  commander-in-chief  of  the  mar- 
itime war,  in  a  moment  such  a  cheapness  of  provisions  ensued, 
(though  previously  there  had  been  a  great  scarcity  of  corn,  and 
the  price  had  been  exceedingly  high.)  owing  to  the  hope  con- 
ceived of  one  single  man,  and  his  high  reputation,  as  could 
scarcely  have  been  produced  by  a  most  productive  harvest  aft- 
er a  long  period  of  peace.  Now,  too,  after  the  disaster  which 
befel  us  in  Pontus,  from  the  result  of  that  battle,  of  which, 
sorely  against  my  will,  I  just  now  reminded  you,  when  our 
allies  were  in  a  state  of  alarm,  when  the  power  and  spirits  of 


164  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

our  enemies  had  risen,  and  the  province  was  in  a  very  insuf- 
ficient state  of  defense,  you  would  have  entirely  lost  Asia,  O 
Romans,  if  the  fortune  of  the  Roman  people  had  not,  by  some 
divine  interposition,  brought  Cnaais  Pompeius  at  that  partic- 
ular moment  into  those  regions.  His  arrival  both  checked 
Mithridates,  elated  with  his  unusual  victory,  and  delayed  Ti- 
granes,  who  was  threatening  Asia  with  a  formidable  army. 
And  can  any  one  doubt  what  he  will  accomplish  by  his  val- 
or, when  he  did  so  much  by  his  authority  and  reputation  ?  or 
how  easily  he  will  preserve  our  allies  and  our  revenues  by  his 
power  and  his  army,  when  he  defended  them  by  the  mere  ter- 
ror of  his  name  % 
i  v^  XVI.  Come,  now ;  what  a  great  proof  does  this  circum- 
stance  afford  us  of  the  influence  of  the  same  man  on  the  en- 
emies of  the  Roman  people,  that  all  of  them,  living  in  coun- 
tries so  far  distant  from  us  and  from  each  other,  surrendered 
themselves  to  him  alone  in  so  short  a  time  ?  that  the  embas- 
sadors of  the  Cretans,  though  there  was  at  the  time  a  general1 
and  an  army  of  ours  in  their  island,  came  almost  to  the  end 
of  the  world  to  Cmeus  Pompeius,  and  said,  all  the  cities  of 
the  Cretans  were  willing  to  surrender  themselves  to  him  ? 
What  did  Mithridates  himself  do  ?  Did  he  not  send  an  em- 
bassador into  Spain  to  the  same  Cnasus  Pompeius?  a  man 
whom  Pompeius  has  always  considered  an  embassador,  but 
who  that  party,  to  whom  it  has  always  been  a  source  of  an- 
noyance that  he  was  sent  to  him  particularly,  have  contend- 
ed was  sent  as  a  spy  rather  than  as  an  embassador.  You 
can  now,  then,  O  Romans,  form  an  accurate  judgment  how 
much  weight  you  must  suppose  that  this  authority  of  his — 
now,  too,  that  it  has  been  farther  increased  by  many  subse- 
quent exploits,  and  by  many  commendatory  resolutions  of  your 
own — will  have  with  those  kings  and  among  foreign  nations. 
It  remains  for  me  timidly  and  briefly  to  speak  of  Iris  good 
fortune,  a  quality  which  no  man  ought  to  boast  of  in  his  own 
case,  but  which  we  may  remember  and  commemorate  as  hap- 
pening to  another,  just  as  a  man  may  extol  the  power  of  the 
gods.  For  my  judgment  is  this,  that  very  often  commands 
have  been  conferred  upon,  and  armies  have  been  intrusted  to 
Maximus,  Marcellus,  to  Scipio,  to  Marius,  and  to  other  great 
generals,  not  only  on  account  of  their  valor,  but  also  on  ac- 

1  Metcllus,  afterward  called  Creticus,  from  his  victory  over  the  Cre- 
tans. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     165 

count  of  their  good  fortune.  For  there  has  been,  in  truth,  in 
the  case  of  some  most  illustrious  men,  good  fortune  added  as 
some  contribution  of  the  gods  to  their  honor  and  glory,  and  as 
a  means  of  performing  mighty  achievements.  But  concern- 
ing the  good  fortune  of  this  man  of  whom  we  are  now  speak- 
ing, T  will  use  so  much  moderation  as  not  to  say  that  good 
fortune  was  actually  placed  in  his  power,  but  I  will  so  speak 
as  to  appear  to  remember  what  is  past,  to  have  good  hope  of 
what  is  to  come ;  so  that  my  speech  may,  on  the  one  hand, 
not  appear  to  the  immortal  gods  to  be  arrogant,  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  be  ungrateful.  Accordingly,  I  do  not  intend 
to  mention,  O  Romans,  what  great  exploits  he  has  achieved 
both  at  home  and  in  war,  by  land  and  by  sea,  and  with  what 
invariable  felicity  he  has  achieved  them  ;  how,  not  only  the 
citizens  have  always  consented  to  his  wishes, — the  allies  com- 
plied with  them, — the  enemy  obeyed  them,  but  how  even  the 
winds  and  weather  have  seconded  them.  I  will  only  say  this, 
most  briefly, — that  no  one  has  ever  been  so  impudent  as  to 
dare  in  silence  to  wish  for  so  many  and  such  great  favors 
as  the  immortal  gods  have  showered  upon  Cnaeus  Pompeius. 
And  that  this  favor  may  continue  his,  and  be  perpetual,  you, 
O  Romans,  ought  to  wish  and  pray  (as,  indeed,  you  do),  both 
for  the  sake  of  the  common  safety  and  prosperity,  and  for  the 
sake  of  the  man  himself. 

Wherefore,  as  the  war  is  at  the  same  time  so  necessary  that 
it  can  not  be  neglected,  so  important  that  it  must  be  conducted 
with  the  greatest  care ;  and  since  you  have  it  in  your  power 
to  appoint  a  general  to  conduct  it,  in  whom  there  is  the  most 
perfect  knowledge  of  war,  the  most  extraordinary  valor,  the 
'nost  splendid  personal  influence,  and  the  most  eminent  good 
fortune,  can  you  hesitate,  O  Romans,  to  apply  this  wonderful 
advantage  which  is  offered  you  and  given  you  by  the  immortal 
gods,  to  the  preservation  and  increase  of  the  power  of  the  re- 
public? 

XVLT.  But,  if  Cnaeus  Pompeius  were  a  private  individual 
at  Rome  at  this  present  time,  still  he  would  be  the  man  who 
ought  to  be  selected  and  sent  out  to  so  great  a  war.  But  now, 
when  to  all  the  other  exceeding  advantages  of  the  appointment, 
this  opportunity  is  also  added, — that  he  is  in  those  very  coun- 
tries already, — that  he  has  an  army  with  him, — that  there  is 
another  army  there  which  can  at  once  be  made  over  to  him 
by  those  who  are  in  command  of  it, — why  do  we  delay  ?  or 


166  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

why  do  we  not,  under  the  guidance  of  the  immortal  gods  them- 
selves, commit  this  royal  war  also  to  him  to  whom  all  the 
other  wars  in  those  parts  have  been  already  intrusted  to  the 
greatest  advantage,  to  the  very  safety  of  the  republic  *? 

But,  to  be  sure,  that  most  illustrious  man,  Quintus  Catulus, 
a  man  most  honestly  attached  to  the  republic,  and  loaded  with 
your  kindness  in  a  way  most  honorable  to  him;  and  also 
Quintus  Hortensius,  a  man  endowed  with  the  highest  qualities 
of  honor,  and  fortune,  and  virtue,  and  genius,  disagree  to  this 
proposal.  And  I  admit  that  their  authority  has-  in  many  in- 
stances had  the  greatest  weight  with  you,  and  that  it  ought  to 
have  the  greatest  weight ;  but  in  this  cause,  although  you  are 
aware  that  the  opinions  of  many  very  brave  and  illustrious 
men  are  unfavorable  to  us,  still  it  is  possible  for  us,  disregard- 
ing those  authorities,  to  arrive  at  the  truth  by  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  and  by  reason.  And  so  much  the  more 
easily,  because  those  very  men  admit  that  every  thing  which 
has  been  said  by  me  up  to  this  time  is  true, — that  the  war  is 
necessary,  that  it  is  an  important  war,  and  that  all  the  requisite 
qualifications  are  in  the  highest  perfection  in  Cnseus  Pompeius. 
What  then,  does  Hortensius  say u?  "  That  if  the  whole  power 
must  be  given  to  one  man,  Pompeius  alone  is  most  worthy  to 
have  it ;  but  that,  nevertheless,  the  power  ought  not  to  be  in- 
trusted to  one  individual."  That  argument,  however,  has  now 
become  obsolete,  having  been  refuted  much  more  by  facts  than 
by  words.  For  you,  also,  Quintus  Hortensius,  said  many 
things  with  great  force  and  fluency  (as  might  be  expected  from 
your  exceeding  ability,  and  eminent  facility  as  an  orator)  in 
the  senate  against  that  brave  man,  Aulus  Gabinius,  when  he 
had  brought  forward  the  law  about  appointing  one  com- 
mander-in-chief against  the  pirates ;  and  also  from  this  place 
where  I  now  stand,  you  made  a  long  speech  against  that  law. 
What  then  %  By  the  immortal  gods,  if  your  authority  hadjiad 
greater  weight  with  the  Roman  people  than  the  safety  and  real 
interests  of  the  Roman  people  itself,  should  we  have  been  this 
day  in  possession  of  our  present  glory,  and  of  the  empire  of 
the  whole  earth  ?  Did  this,  then,  appear  to  you  to  be  domin- 
ion, when  it  was  a  common  thing  for  the  embassadors,  and 
praetors,  and  quaestors  of  the  Roman  people  to  be  taken  pris- 
oners ?  when  we  were  cut  off  from  all  supplies,  both  public 
and  private,  from  all  our  provinces'?  when  all  the  seas  were 
so  closed  asrainst  us,  that  we  could  neither  visit  any  private 
(state  of  our  own,  nor  any  public  domain  beyond  the  sea ! 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     167 

XVIII.  What  city  ever  was  there  before  this  time, — I 
speak  not  of  the  city  of  the  Athenians,  which  is  said  former- 
ly to  have  had  a  sufficiently  extensive  naval  dominion ;  nor 
of  that  of  the  Carthaginians,  who  had  great  power  with  their 
fleet  and  maritime  resources ;  nor  of  those  of  the  Rhodians, 
whose  naval  discipline  and  naval  renown  has  lasted  even  to 
our  recollection, — but  was  there  ever  any  city  before  this  time 
so  insignificant,  if  it  was  only  a  small  island,  as  not  to  be  able 
by  its  own  power  to  defend  its  harbors,  and  its  lands,  and 
some  part  of-  its  country  and  maritime  coast  1  But,  forsooth, 
for  many  years  before  the  Gabinian  law  was  passed,  the  Ro- 
man people,  whose  name,  till  within  our  own  memory,  re- 
mained invincible  in  naval  battles,  was  deprived  not  only  of 
a  great,  ay,  of  much  the  greatest  part  of  its  usefulness,  but 
also  of  its  dignity  and  dominion.  We,  whose  ancestors  con- 
quered with  our  fleets  Antiochus  the  king,  and  Perses,  and  in 
every  naval  engagement  defeated  the  Carthaginians,  the  best 
practiced  and  best  equipped  of  all  men  in  maritime  affairs ; 
we  could  now  in  no  place  prove  ourselves  equal  to  the  pirates. 
We,  who  formerly  had  not  only  all  Italy  in  safety,  but  who 
were  able  by  the  authority  of  our  empire  to  secure  the  safety 
of  all  our  allies  in  the  most  distant  countries,  so  that  even  the 
island  of  Delos,  situated  so  far  from  us  in  the  iEgean  sea,  at 
which  all  men  were  in  the  habit  of  touching  with  their  mer- 
chandise and  their  freights,  full  of  riches  as  it  was,  little  and 
unwalled  as  it  was,  still  was  in  no  alarm  ;  we,  I  say,  were 
cut  off,  not  only  from  our  provinces,  and  from  the  sea-coast 
of  Italy,  and  from  our  harbors,  but  even  from  the  Appian 
road ;  and  at  this  time,  the  magistrates  of  the  Roman  people 
were  not  ashamed  to  come  up  into  this  very  rostrum  where 
I  am  standing,  which  your  ancestors  had  bequeathed  to  you 
adorned  with  nautical  trophies,  and  the  spoils  of  the  enemy's 
fleet. 

XIX.  When  you  opposed  that  law,  the  Roman  people,  O 
Quintus  Hortensius,  thought  that  you,  and  the  others  who 
held  the  same  opinion  with  you,  delivered  your  sentiments  in 
a  bold  and  gallant  spirit.  But  still,  in  a  matter  affecting  the 
safety  of  the  commonwealth,  the  Roman  people  preferred  con- 
sulting its  own  feelings  of  indignation  to  your  authority.  Ac- 
cordingly, one  law,  one  man,  and  one  year,  delivered  us  not 
only  from  that  misery  and  disgrace,  but  also  caused  us  again 
at  length  to  appear  really  to  be  masters  of  all  nations  and 


108  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

countries  by  land  and  sea.  And  on  this  account  the  endeav- 
or to  detract,  shall  I  say  from  Gabinius,  or  from  Pompeius. 
or  (what  would  be  truer  still)  from  both  ?  appears  to  me  par- 
ticularly unworthy ;  being  done  in  order  that  Aulus  Gabin- 
ius might  not  be  appointed  lieutenant  to  Cnaeus  Pompeius, 
though  he  requested  and  begged  it.  Is  he  who  begs  for  a 
particular  lieutenant  in  so  important  a  war  unworthy  to  ob- 
tain any  one  whom  he  desires,  when  all  other  generals  have 
taken  whatever  lieutenants  they  chose,  to  assist  them  in  pil- 
laging the  allies  and  plundering  the  provinces  ?  Or  ought  he, 
by  whose  law  safety  and  dignity  has  been  given  to  the  Ro- 
man people,  and  to  all  nations,  to  be  prevented  from  sharing 
in  the  glory  of  that  commander  and  that  army,  which  exists 
through  his  wisdom  and  was  appointed  at  his  risk?  Was 
it  allowed  to  Caius  Falcidius,  to  Quintus  Metellus,«to  Quin- 
tus  Caslius  Laterensis,  and  to  Cnasus  Lentulus,  all  of  whom  I 
name  to  do  them  honor,  to  be  lieutenants  the  year  after  they 
had  been  tribunes  of  the  people ;  and  shall  men  be  so  exact 
in  the  case  of  Gabinius  alone,  who,  in  this  war  which  is  car- 
ried on  under  the  provisions  of  the  Gabinian  law,  and  in  the 
case  of  this  commander  and  this  army  which  he  himself  ap- 
pointed with  your  assistance,  ought  to  have  the  first  right  of 
any  one?  And  concerning  whose  appointment  as  lieutenant 
1  hope  that  the  consuls  will  bring  forward  a  motion  in  the 
senate ;  and  if  they  hesitate,  or  are  unwilling  to  do  so,  I  un- 
dertake to  bring  it  forward  myself;  nor,  O  Romans,  shall  the 
hostile  edict  of  any  one  deter  me  from  relying  on  you  and  de- 
fending your  privileges  and  your  kindness.  Nor  will  I  listen 
to  any  thing  except  the  interposition  of  the  tribunes  ;  and  as 
to  that,  those  very  men  who  threaten  it,  will,  I  apprehend,  con- 
sider over  and  over  again  what  they  have  a  right  to  do.  In 
my  own  opinion,  O  Romans,  Aulus  Gabinius  alone  has  a  right 
to  be  put  by  the  side  of  Cnaeus  Pompeius  as  a  partner  of  the 
glory  of  his  exploits  in  the  maritime  war ;  because  the  one, 
with  the  assistance  of  your  votes,  gave  to  that  man  alone  the 
task  of  undertaking  that  war,  and  the  other,  when  it  was  in- 
trusted  to  him,  undertook  it  and  terminated  it. 

XX.  It  remains  for  me  to  speak  of  the  authority  and  opin- 
ion of  Quintus  Catulus ;  who,  when  he  asked  of  you,  if  you 
thus  placed  all  your  dependence  on  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  in  whom 
you  would  have  any  hope,  if  any  thing  were  to  happen  to  him, 
cocci ved  a  splendid  reward  for  his  own  virtue  and  worth,  when 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.     169 

vou  all,  with  almost  one  voice,  cried  out  that  you  would,  in 
that  case,  put  }rour  trust  in  him.  In  truth  he  is  such  a  man, 
that  no  affair  can  be  so  important,  or  so  difficult,  that  he  can 
not  manage  it  by  his  wisdom,  or  defend  it  by  his  integrity,  or 
terminate  it  by  his  valor.  But,  in  this  case,  I  entirely  differ 
from  him  ;  because,  the  less  certain  and  the  less  lasting  the 
life  of  man  is,  the  more  ought  the  republic  to  avail  itself  of 
the  life  and  valor  of  any  admirable  man,  as  long  as  the  im- 
mortal gods  allow  it  to  do  so.  But  let  no  innovation  be  es- 
tablished contrary  to  the  precedents  and  principles  of  our  an- 
cestors. I  will  not  say,  at  this  moment,  that  our  ancestors  in 
peace  always  obeyed  usage,  but  in  war  were  always  guided  by 
expediency,  and  always  accommodated  themselves  with  new 
plans  to  the  new  emergencies  of  the  times.  I  will  not  say  that 
two  most  important  wars,  the  Punic  war  and  the  Spanish  war, 
were  put  an  end  to  by  one  general ;  that  two  most  powerful 
cities,  which  threatened  the  greatest  danger  to  this  empire — 
Carthage  and  Numantia,  were  destroyed  by  the  same  Scipio. 
I  will  not  remind  you  that  it  was  but  lately  determined  by  you 
and  by  your  ancestors,  to  rest  all  the  hopes  of  the  empire  on 
Caius  Marios,  so  that  the  same  man  conducted  the  war  against 
Ju^urtha,  and  against  the  Cimbri,  and  against  the  Teutones. 
But  recollect,  in  the  case  of  Cnasus  Pompeius  himself,  with  ref- 
erence to  whom  Catulus  objects  to  having  any  new  regulations 
introduced,  how  many  new  laws  have  been  made  with  the  most 
willing  consent  of  Quintus  Catulus. 

XXI.  For  what  can  be  so  unprecedented  as  for  a  young 
man  in  a  private  capacity  to  levy  an  army  at  a  most  critical 
time  of  the  republic  1  He  levied  one. — To  command  it?  He 
did  command  it. — To  succeed  gloriously  in  his  undertaking? 
He  did  succeed.  What  can  be  so  entirely  contrary  to  usage, 
as  for  a  very  young  man,  whose  age1  fell  far  short  of  that  re- 

'  "  As  regards  die  age  at  which  a  person  might  become  a  senator,  we 
have  no  express  statement  for  the  time  of  the  republic,  although  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  fixed  by  some  custom  or  law,  as  the  atas  senatoria  is 
frequently  mentioned,  especially  during  the  latter  period  of  the  republic  ; 
but  we  may  by  induction  discover  the  probable  age.  We  know  that  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  tribune  Villius  the  age  fixed  for  the  quaestorship 
was  thirty-one.  Now  as  it  might  happen  that  a  quaestor  was  made  a 
senator  immediately  after  the  expiration, of  his  office,  we  may  presume 
that  the  earliest  age  at  which  a  man  could  become  a  senator  was  thirty- 
two.  Augustus  at  last  fixed  the  senatorial  age  at  twenty-five,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  remained  unaltered  throughout  the  time  of  the  empire." — 
Smith.  Diet  Ant.  p.  851,  v.  Senatus. 

H 


170  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

quired  for  the  rank  of  a  senator,  to  have  a  command  and  an 
army  intrusted  to  him  ?  to  have  Sicily  committed  to  his  care, 
and  Africa,  and  the  war  which  was  to  be  carried  on  there? 
He  conducted  himself  in  these  provinces  with  singular  blame- 
lessness,  dignity,  and  valor ;  he  terminated  a  most  serious  war 
in  Africa,  and  brought  away  his  army  victorious.  But  what 
was  ever  so  unheard-of  as  for  a  Roman  knight  to  have  a  tri- 
umph? But  even  that  circumstance  the  Roman  people  not 
only  saw,  but  they  thought  that  it  deserved  to  be  thronged  to 
and  honored  with  all  possible  zeal.  "What  was  ever  so  un- 
usual, as,  when  there  were  two  most  gallant  and  most  illus- 
trious consuls,  for  a  Roman  knight  to  be  sent  as  proconsul  to 
a  most  important  and  formidable  war  ?  He  was  so  sent — on 
which  occasion,  indeed,  when  some  one  in  the  senate  said  that 
a  private  individual  ought  not  to  be  sent  as  proconsul,  Lucius 
Philippus  is  reported  to  have  answered,  that  if  he  had  his  will 
he  should  be  sent  not  for  one  consul,  but  for  both  the  consuls. 
Such  great  hope  was  entertained  that  the  affairs  of  the  repub- 
lic would  be  prosperously  managed  by  him,  that  the  charge 
which  properly  belonged  to  the  two  consuls  was  intrusted  to 
the  valor  of  one  young  man.  What  was  ever  so  extraordi- 
nary as  for  a  man  to  be  released  from  all  laws  by  a  formal 
resolution  of  the  senate,  and  made  consul  before  he  was  of  an 
age  to  undertake  any  other  magistracy  according  to  the  laws  ? 
What  could  be  so  incredible,  as  for  a  Roman  knight  to  cele- 
brate a  second  triumph  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  sen- 
ate 1  All  the  unusual  circumstances  which  in  the  memory  of 
man  have  ever  happened  to  all  other  men  put  together,  are  not 
so  many  as  these  which  we  see  have  occurred  in  the  history  of 
this  one  man.  And  all  these  instances,  numerous,  important, 
and  novel  as  they  are,  have  all  occurred  in  the  case  of  the  same 
man,  taking  their  rise  in  the  authority  of  Quintus  Catulus  him- 
self, and  by  that  of  other  most  honorable  men  of  the  same  rank. 
XXH.  Wherefore,  let  them  take  care  that  it  is  not  consid- 
ered a  most  unjust  and  intolerable  thing,  that  their  authori- 
ty in  matters  affecting  the  dignity  of  Cnasus  Pompeius  should 
hitherto  have  been  constantly  approved  of  by  you,  but  that 
your  judgment,  and  the  authority  of  the  Roman  people  in  the 
case  of  the  same  man,  should  be  disregarded  by  them.  Es- 
pecially when  the  Roman  people  can  now,  of  its  own  right, 
defend  its  own  authority  with  respect  to  this  man  against  all 
"  '»  dispute  it, — because,  when  those  very  same  men  object- 


d 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.  171 

ed,  you  chose  him  alone  of  all  men  to  appoint  to  the  manage- 
ment of  the  war  against  the  pirates.     If  you  did  this  at  ran- 
dom, and  had  but  little  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  repub- 
lic, then  they  are  right  to  endeavor  to  guide  your  party  spirit 
by  their  wisdom ;  but  if  you  at  that  time  showed  more  fore- 
sight in  the  affairs  of  the  state  than  they  did ;  if  you,  in  spite 
of  their  resistance,  by  yourselves  conferred  dignity  on  the  em- 
pire, safety  on  the  whole  world  ;  then  at  last  let  those  noble 
men  confess  that  both  they  and  all  other  men  must  obey  the 
authority  of  the  universal  Roman  people.    And  in  this  Asiatic 
and  royal  war,  not  only  is  that  military  valor  required,  which 
exists  in  a  singular  degree  in  Cnseus  Pompeius,  but  many  oth- 
er great  virtues  of  mind  are  also  demanded.     It  is  difficult  for 
your  commander-in-chief  in  Asia,  Cilicia,  Syria,  and  all  the 
kingdoms  of  the  inland  nations,  to  behave  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  think  of  nothing  else  but  the  enemy  and  glory.     Then, 
even  if  there  be  some  men  moderate  and  addicted  to  the  prac- 
tice of  modesty  and  self-government,  still,  such  is  the  multi- 
tude of  covetous  and  licentious  men,  that  no  one  thinks  that 
these  are  such  men.     It  is  difficult  to  tell  you,  O  Romans,  how 
great  our  unpopularity  is  among  foreign  nations,  on  account 
of  the  injurious  and  licentious  behavior  of  those  whom  we 
have  of  late  years  sent  among  them  with  military  command. 
For,  in  all  those   countries  which  are  now  under  our  domin- 
ion, what  temple  do  you  think  has  had  a  sufficiently  holy  rep- 
utation, what  city  has  been  sufficiently  sacred,  what  private 
house  has  been  sufficiently  closed  and  fortified,  to  be  safe  from 
them?      *They  seek  out  wealthy  and  splendid  cities  to  find 
pretense  for  making  war  on  them  for  the  sake  of  plundering 
them.     I  would  willingly  argue  this  with  those  most  eminent 
and  illustrious  men,  Quintus  Catulus  and  Quintus  Horten- 
sius ;  for  they  know  the  distresses  of  the  allies,  they  see  their 
calamities,  they  hear  their  complaints.     Do  you  think  that 
you  are  sending  an  army  in  defense  of  your  allies   against 
their  enemies,  or  rather,  under  pretense  of  the  existence  of  en- 
emies, against  your  allies  and  friends  themselves1?    What  city 
is  there  in  Asia  which  can  stand  the  ferocity  and  arrogance, 
I  will  not  say  of  the  army,  of  a  commander-in-chief,  or  of  a 
lieutenant,  but  of  even  the  brigade  of  one  single  military  trib- 
une? 

XXIII.  So  that  even  if  you  have  any  one  who  may  appear 
able  to  cope  in  terms  of  advantage  with  the  king's  armies, 


172  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

rtill,  unless  he  be  also  a  man  who  can  keep  his  hands,  and 
eyes,  and  desires  from  the  treasures  of  the  allies,  from  their 
wives  and  children,  from  the  ornaments  of  their  temples  and 
cities,  from  the  gold  and  jewels  of  the  king,  he  will  not  be  a 
fit  person  to  be  sent  to  this  Asiatic  and  royal  war.  Do  you 
think  that  there  is  any  city  there  peacefully  inclined  toward 
us  which  is  rich  1  Do  you  think  that  there  is  any  rich  city 
there,  which  will  appear  to  those  men  to  be  peacefully  in- 
clined toward  us?  The  sea-coast,  O  Romans,  begged  for 
Cnseus  Pompeius,  not  only  on  account  of  his  renown  for  mili- 
tary achievements,  but  also  because  of  the  moderation  of  his 
disposition.  For  it  saw  that  it  was  not  the  Roman  people 
that  was  enriched  every  year  by  the  public  money,  but  only  a 
few  individuals,  and  that  we  did  nothing  more  by  the  name  of 
our  fleets  beyond  sustaining  losses,  and  so  covering  ourselves 
with  additional  disgrace.  But  now,  are  these  men,  who  think 
that  all  these  honors  and  offices  are  not  to  be  conferred  on  one 
person,  ignorant  with  what  desires,  with  what  hope  of  retriev- 
ing past  losses,  and  on  what  conditions,  these  men  go  to  the 
provinces?  As  if  Cnaeus  Pompeius  did  not  appear  great  in 
our  eyes,  not  only  on  account  of  his  own  positive  virtues,  but 
by  a  comparison  with  the  vices  of  others.  And,  therefore,  do 
not  you  doubt  to  intrust  every  thing  to  him  alone,  when  he 
has  been  found  to  be  the  only  man  for  many  years  whom  the 
allies  are  glad  to  see  come  to  their  cities  with  an  army.  And 
if  you  think  that  our  side  of  the  argument,  O  Romans,  should 
be  confirmed  by  authorities,  you  have  the  authority  qf  Publius 
Servilius,  a  man  of  the  greatest  skill  in  all  wars,  and  in  affairs 
of  the  greatest  importance,  who  has  performed  such  mighty 
achievements  by  land  and  sea,  that,  when  you  are  deliberating 
about  wa?';  no  one's  authority  ought  to  have  more  weight  with  V 
you.  You  have  the  authority  of  Caius  Curio,  a  man  who  hasTV\ 
received  great  kindnesses  from  you,  who  has  performed  great  ^ 
exploits,  who  is  indued  with  the  highest  abilities  and  wisdom  ; 
and  of  Cna3us  Lentulus,  in  whom  all  of  you  know  there  is  (as, 
indeed,  there  ought  to  be,  from  the  ample  honors  which  you 
have  heaped  upon  him)  the  most  eminent  wisdom,  and  the 
greatest  dignity  of  character  ;  and  of  Caius  Cassius,  a  man  of 
extraordinary  integrity,  and  valor,  and  virtue.  Consider,  there- 
fore, whether  we  do  not  seem  by  the  authority  of  these  men  to 
give  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  speeches  of  those  men  who  differ 
from  us- 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MANILIAN  LAW.  173 

XXIV.  And  as  this  is  the  case,  O  Caius  Manilius,  in  the 
first  place,  I  exceedingly  praise  and  approve  of  that  law  of 
yours,  and  of  your  purpose,  and  of  your  sentiments.  And  in 
the  second  place,  I  exhort  you,  having  the  approbation  of  the 
Roman  people,  to  persevere  in  those  sentiments,  and  not  to 
fear  the  violence  or  threats  of  any  one.  And,  first  of  all,  I 
think  you  have  the  requisite  courage  and  perseverance ;  and, 
secondly,  when  we  see  such  a  multitude  present  displaying 
such  zeal  in  our  cause  as  we  now  see  displayed  for  the  second 
time,  in  appointing  the  same  man  to  the  supreme  command, 
how  can  we  doubt  in  the  matter,  or  question  our  power  of 
carrying  our  point  ?  As  for  me,  all  the  zeal,  and  wisdom,  and 
industry,  and  ability  of  which  I  am  possessed,  all  the  influence 
which  I  have  through  the  kindness  shown  for  me  by  the  Ro- 
man people,  and  through  my  power  as  praetor,  as  also,  through 
my  reputation  for  authority,  good  faith,  and  virtue,  all  of  it  I 
pledge  to  you  and  the  Roman  people,  and  devote  to  the  object 
of  carrying  this  resolution.  »v-"And  I  call  all  the  gods  to  witness, 
and  especially  those  who  preside  over  this  place  and  temple, 
who  see  into  the  minds  of  all  those  who  apply  themselves  to 
affairs  of  state,  that  I  am  not  doing  this  at  the  request  of  any 
one,  nor  because  I  think  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  Cnseus  Pom- 
peius  by  taking  this  side,  nor  in  order,  through  the  greatness 
of  any  one  else,  to  seek  for  myself  protection  against  dangers, 
or  aids  in  the  acquirement  of  honors;  because,  as  for  dangers, 
we  shall  easily  repel  them,  as  a  man  ought  to  do,  protected 
by  our  own  innocencat  and  as  for  honors,  we  shall  not  gain 
them  by  the  favor  of  a«|k  men,  nor  by  any  thing  that  happens 
in  this  place,  but  by  the%ame  laborious  course  of  life  which 
I  have  hitherto  adopted,  if  your  favorable  inclination  assists 
me.     "Wherefore,  whatever  I  have  undertaken  in  this  cause, 

0  Romans,  I  assure  you  that  I  have  undertaken  wholly  for 
the  sake  of  the  republic ;  and  I  am  so  far  from  thinking  that 

1  have  gained  by  it  the  favor  of  any  influential  man,  that  I 
know,  on  the  other  hand,  that  I  have  brought  on  myself  many 
enmities,  some  secret,  some  undisguised,  which  I  never  need 
have  incurred,  and  which  yet  will  not  be  mischievous  to  you. 
But  I  have  considered  that  I,  invested  with  my  present  hon- 
ors, and  loaded  with  so  many  kindnesses  from  you,  ought  to 
prefer  your  inclination,  and  the  dignity  of  the  republic,  and 
the  safety  of  our  provinces  and  allies,  to  all  considerations  of 
my  own  private  interest. 


174  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE  OF  TITUS 

ANNIUS  MILO. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Titus  Annius  Milo,  often  in  the  following  speech  called  only  Titus  Anni- 
us,  stood  for  the  consulship  while  Clodius  was  a  candidate  for  the  prae- 
torship,  and  daily  quarrels  took  place  in  the  streets  between  their  arm- 
ed retainers  and  gladiators.  Milo,  who  was  dictator  of  Lanuvium,  his 
native  place,  was  forced  to  go  thither  to  appoint  some  priests,  etc.  ;  and 
Clodius,  who  had  been  to  Aricia,  met  him  on  his  road.  Milo  wa6  in 
his  carriage  with  his  wife,  and  was  accompanied  by  a  numerous  reti- 
nue, among  whom  were  some  gladiators.  Clodius  was  on  horseback, 
with  about  thirty  armed  men.  The  followers  of  each  began  to  fight, 
and  when  the  tumult  had  become  general,  Clodius  was  slain,  probably 
by  Milo  himself.  The  disturbances  at  Rome  became  so  formidable  that 
Pompey  was  created  sole  consul ;  and  soon  after  he  entered  on  his  office, 
a.u.c.  702,  Milo  was  brought  to  trial.  This  speech,  however,  though 
composed  by  Cicero,  was  not  spoken,  for  he  was  so  much  alarmed  by  the 
violence  of  Clodius's  friends,  that  he  did  not  dare  to  use  the  plain  lan- 
guage he  had  proposed.    Milo  was  convicted  and  banished  to  Marseilles. 

I.  Although  I  am  afraid,  O  judges,  that  it  is  a  base  thing 
for  one  who  is  beginning  to  speak  for  a  very  brave  man  to  be 
alarmed,  and  though  it  is  far  from  Incoming,  when  Titus 
Annius  Milo  himself  is  more  disturbed  for  the  safety  of  the 
republic  than  for  his  own,  that  I  should  not  be  able  to  bring 
to  the  cause  a  similar  greatness  of  mind,  yet  this  novel  ap- 
pearance of  a  new1  manner  of  trial  alarms  my  eyes,  which; 
wherever  they  fall,  seek  for  the  former  customs  of  the  forum 
and  the  ancient  practice  in  trials.  For  your  assembly  is  not 
surrounded  by  a  circle  of  by-standers  as  usual ;  we  are  not 
attended  by  our  usual  company.2 

For  those  guards  which  you  behold  in  front  of  all  the  tem- 
ples, although  they  are  placed  there  as  a  protection  against 

1  This  was  an  extraordinary  trial,  held  under  a  new  law  just  passed 
by  Pompey  ;  and  it  was  presided  over,  not  by  the  praetor,  but  by  Lucius 
Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  who  was  expressly  appointed  by  the  comitia 
president  of  the  judges  on  this  occasion. 

2  Pompey  was  present  at  the  trial,  surrounded  by  his  officers,  and  he 
had  filled  the  forum  and  all  its  precincts  with  armed  men,  for  the  sake  of 
keeping  the  peace. 


FOR  T    A.  MILO.  175 

violence,  yet  they  bring  no  aid  to  the  orator ;  so  that  even  in 
the  forum  and  in  the  court  of  justice  itself,  although  we  are 
protected  with  all  salutary  and  necessary  defenses,  yet  we  can 
not  be  entirely  without  fear.  But  if  I  thought  this  adverse 
to  Milo,  I  should  yield  to  the  times,  O  judges,  and  among 
such  a  crowd  of  armed  men,  I  should  think  there  was  no 
room  for  an  orator.  But  the  wisdom  of  Cmeus  Pompeius, 
a  most  wise  and  just  man,  strengthens  and  encourages  me ; 
who  would  certainly  neither  think  it  suitable  tp  his  justice  to 
deliver  that  man  up  to  the  weapons  of  the  soldiery  whom  he  • 
had  given  over  as  an  accused  person  to  the  decision  of  the 
judges,  nor  suitable  to  his  wisdom  to  arm  the  rashness  of  an 
excited  multitude  with  public  authority. 

So  that  those  arms,  those  centurions,  those  cohorts,  do  not 
announce  danger  to  us,  but  protection ;  nor  do  they  expect 
us  only  to  be  calm,  but  even  to  be  courageous ;  nor  do  they 
promise  only  assistance  to  my  defense,  but  also  silence.  And 
the  rest  of  the  multitude,  which  consists  of  citizens,  is  wholly 
ours  ;  nor  is  there  any  one  individual  among  those  whom  you 
see  from  this  place  gazing  upon  us  from  all  sides  from  which/ 
any  part  of  the  forum  can  be  seen,  and  watching  the  resultA 
of  this  trial,  who,  while  he  favors  the  virtue  of  Milo,  does 
not  think  that  this  day  in  reality  his  own  interests,  those  of 
his  children,  his  country,  and  his  fortunes,  are  at  stake. 

II.  There  is  one  class  adverse  and  hostile  to  us, — those 
whom  the  madness  of  Publius  Clodius  has  fed  on  rapine,  on 
conflagration,  and  on  every  sort  of  public  disaster;  and  who 
were,  even  in  the  assembly  held  yesterday,  exhorted1  to  teach 
you,  by  their  clamor,  what  you  were  to  decide.  But  such 
shouts,  if  any  reached  you,  should  rather  warn  you  to  retain 
him  as  a  citizen  who  has  always  slighted  that  class  of  men, 
and  their  greatest  clamor,  in  comparison  writh  your  safety. 
Wherefore,  be  of  good  corn-age,  O  judges,  and  lay  aside  your 
alarm,  if  indeed  you  feel  any ;  for  if  ever-  you  had  to  decide 
about  good  and  brave  men,  and  about  citizens  who  had  de- 
served well  of  their  country,  if  ever  an  opportunity  was  given 
to  chosen  men  of  the  most  honorable  ranks  to  show  by  their 
deeds  and  resolutions  that  disposition  toward  brave  and  good 
citizens  which  they  had  often  declared  by  their  looks  and  by 
their  words,  all  that  power  you  now  have,  when  you  are  to 

1  Munatius  Plancus,  the  day  before,  had  exhorted  the  people  not  to 
"suffer  Milo  to  escape. 


176  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

determine  whether  we  who  have  always  been  wholly  devoted 
to  your  authority  are  to  be  miserable,  and  to  mourn  for  ever, 
or  whether,  having  been  long  harassed  by  the  most  abandoned 
citizens,  we  shall  at  length  be  reprieved  and  set  up  again  by 
you,  your  loyalty,  your  virtue,  and  your  wisdom. 

For  what,  0  judges,  is  more  full  of  labor  than  we  both  are, 
what  can  be  either  expressed  or  imagined  more  full  of  anxiety 
and  uneasiness  than  we  are,  who  being  induced  to  devote  our- 
selves to  the  republic  by  the  hope  of  the  most  honorable  re- 
wards, yet  can  not  be  free  from  the  fear  of  the  most  cruel 
punishments?  I  have  always  thought  indeed  that  Milo  had 
to  encounter  the  other  storms  and  tempests  in  these  billows 
of  the  assemblies  because  he  always  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
good  against  the  bad;  but  in  a  court  of  justice,  and  in  that 
council  in  which  the  most  honorable  men  of  all  ranks  are 
sitting  as  judges,  I  never  imagined  that  Milo's  enemies  could 
have  any  hope  of  diminishing  his  glory  by  the  aid  of  such 
men,  much  less  of  at  all  injuring  his  safety. 

Although  in  this  cause,  O  judges,  we  shall  not  employ  the 
tribuneship  of  Titus  Annius,  and  all  the  exploits  which  he 
%has  performed  for  the  safety  of  the  republic,  as  topics  for  our 
defense  against  this  accusation,  unless  you  see  with  your  own 
eyes  that  a  plot  was  laid  against  Milo  by  Clodius ;  and  w-e 
shall  not  entreat  you  to  pardon  us  this  one  offense  in  consid- 
eration of  our  many  eminent  services  to  the  republic,  nor  shall 
we  demand,  if  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius  was  your  safety,, 
that  on  that  account  you  should  attribute  it  rather  to  the 
virtue  of  Milo,  than  to  the  good  fortune  of  the  Roman  people; 
but  if  his  plots  are  made  clearer  than  the  day,  then  indeed  I 
shall  entreat,  and  shall  demand  of  you,  O  judges,  that,  if  we 
have  lost  every  thing  else,  this  at  least  may  be  left  us, — name- 
ly, the  privilege  of  defending  our  lives  from  the  audacity  and 
weapons  of  our  enemies  with  impunity. 

III.  But  before  I  conic  to  that  part  of  my  speech  which 
especially  belongs  to  this  trial,  it  seems  necessary  to  refute 
those  things  which  hove  been  often  said,  both  in  the  senate 
by  our  enemies,  and  in  the  assembly  of  the  people  by  wicked 
men,  and  lately,  too,  by  our  prosecutors;  so  that  when  every 
cause  of  alarm  is  removed,  you  may  be  able  distinctly  to  see 
%  the  matter  which  is  the  subject  of  this  trial.  They  say  that 
that  man  ought  no  longer  to  see  the  light  who  confesses  that 
another  man  has  been  slain  by  him.     In  what  city,  then,  are 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  177 

these  most  foolish  men  using  this  argument  ?  In  this  one, 
forsooth,  where  the  first  trial  for  a  man's  life  that  took  place 
at  all  was  that  of  Marcus  Horatius,  a  most  brave  man,  who 
even  before  the  city  was  free  was  yet  acquitted  by  the  assem- 
bly of  the  Ivoinan  people,  though  he  avowed  that  his  sister 
had  been  slain  by  his  hand. 

Is  there  any  one  who  does  not  know,  that  when  inquiry  is 
made  into  the  slaying  of  a  man,  it  is  usual  either  altogether  to 
deny  that  the  deed  has  been  done,  or  else  to  defend  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  rightly  and  lawfully  done  ?  unless,  indeed, 
you  think  that  Publius  Africanus  was  out  of  his  mind,  who, 
when  he  was  asked  in  a  seditious  spirit  by  Caius  Carbo,  a  ! 
tribune  of  the  people,  what  was  his  opinion  of  the  death  of 
Tiberius  Gracchus,  answered  that  he  seemed  to  have  been 
rightly  slain.  For  neither  could  Servilius  Ahala,  that  emi- 
nent man,  nor  Publius  Nasica,  nor  Lucius  Opimius,  nor  Caius 
Marius,  nor  indeed  the  senate  itself  during  my  consulship,, 
have  been  accounted  any  thing  but  wicked,  if  it  was  unlawful 
for  wicked  citizens  to  be  put  to  death.  And  therefore,  O 
judges,  it  was  not  without  good  reason,  that  even  in  legend-* 
ary  fables  learned  men  have  handed  down  the  story,  that  he, 
who  for  the  sake  of  avenging  his  father  had  killed  his  mother, 
when  the  opinions  of  men  varied,  was  acquitted  not  only  by  • 
the  voices  of  the  gods,  but  even  by  the  very  wisest  goddess. 
And  if  the  Twelve  Tables  have  permitted  that  a  nightly 
robber  may  be  slain  any  way,  but  a  robber  by  day  if  he  de- 
fends himself,  with  a  weapon,  who  is  there  who  can  think 
a  man  to  be  punished  for  slaying  another,  in  whatever  way 
he  is  slain,  when  he  sees  that  sometimes  a  sword  to  kill  a 
man  with  is  put  into  our  hands  by  the  very  laws  them- 
selves ? 

TV.  But  if  there  be  any  occasion  on  which  it  is  proper  to 
slay  a  man, — and  there  are  many  such, — surely  that  occasion 
is  not  only  a  just  one,  but  even  a  necessary  one,  when  vio- 
lence is  offered,  and  can  only  be  repelled  by  violence.  When 
a  military  tribune  offered  violence  to  a  soldier  in  the  army  of 
Caius  Marius,  the  kinsman  of  that  commander  was  slain  by 
the  man  whom  he  was  insulting  ;  for  the  virtuous  youth  chose 
to  act,  though  with  danger,  rather  than  to  suffer  infamously ; 
and  his  illustrious  commander  acquitted  him  of  all  guilt,  and 
treated  him  well.^f  But  what  death  can  be  unjust  when  in- 
flicted on  a  secret  plotter  and  robber? 

H2  ^ 


178  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  our  retinues,  what  of  our  swords  ? 
Surely  it  would  never  be  permitted  to  us  to  have  them  if  we 
might  never  use  them.  This,  therefore,  is  a  law,  O  judges, 
not  written,  but  born  witli  us, — which  we  have  not  learned,  or 
received  by  tradition,  or  read,  but  which  we  have  taken  and 
sucked  in  and  imbibed  from  nature  herself;  a  law  which  we 
were  not  taught,  but  to  which  we  were  made, — which  we  were 
not  trained  in,  but  which  is  ingrained  in  us, — namely,  that  if 
our  life  be  in  danger  from  plots,  or  from  open  violence,  or  from 
the  weapons  of  robbers  or  enemies,  every  means  of  securing 
our  safety  is  honorable.  For  laws  are  silent  when  arms  are 
raised,  and  do  not  expect  themselves  to  be  waited  for,  when  he 
who  waits  will  have  to  suffer  an  undeserved  penalty  before  he 
can  exact  a  merited  punishment. 

The  law  very  wisely,  and  in  a  manner  silently,  gives  a  man 
a  right  to  defend  himself,  and  does  not  merely  forbid  a  man  to 
be  slain,  but  forbids  any  one  to  have  a  weapon  about  him 
with  the  object  of  slaying  a  man ;  so  that,  as  the  object,  and 
not  the  weapon  itself,  is  made  the  subject  of  the  inquiry,  the 
■•man  who  had  used  a  weapon  with  the  object  of  defending 
himself  would  be  decided  not  to  have  had  his  weapon  about 
him  with  the  object  of  killing  a  man.  Let,  then,  this  princi- 
*  pie  be  remembered  by  you  in  this  trial,  O  judges ;  for  I  do 
not  doubt  that  I  shall  make  good  my  defense  before  you,  if 
you  only  remember — what  you  can  not  forget — that  a  plotter 
against  one  may  be  lawfully  slain.  ^ 

V.  The  next  point  is  one  which  is  often  asserted  by  the 
enemies  of  Milo,  who  say  that  the  senate  has  decided  that  the 
slaughter  by  which  Publius  Clodius  fell  was  contrary  to  the 
interests  of  the  republic.  But,  in  fact,  the  senate  has  approved, 
not  merely  by  their  votes,  but  even  zealously.  For  how  often 
has  that  cause  been  pleaded  by  us  in  the  senate?  with  what 
great  assent  of  the  whole  body  ?  and  that  no  silent  nor  con- 
cealed assent ;  for  when  in  a  very  full  senate  were  there  ever 
four  or  five  men  found  who  did  not  espouse  Milo's  cause? 
Those  lifeless  assemblies  of  this  nearly  burnt1  tribune  of  the 
people  show  the  fact;  assemblies  in  which  he  daily  used  to  try 

•  After  Clodius's  death,  Munatius  Plancus,  the  tribune,  exposed  his 
body  on  the  rostrum,  and  harangued  the  people  against  Milo  ;  the  pop- 
ulace carried  the  body  into  the  senate-house,  and  made  a  pile  of  the  seats 
to  burn  it,  in  doing  which  they  burnt  the  senate-house,  and  Plancus  him- 
self with  difficulty  escaped. 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  I79 

and  bring  my  power  into  unpopularity,  by  saying  that  the  sen- 
ate did  not  pass  its  decrees  according  to  what  it  thought  itself, 
but  as  I  chose. 

And  if,  indeed,  that  ought  to  be  called  power,  rather  than 
a  moderate  influence  in  a  righteous  cause  on  account  of  crreat 
services  done  to  the  republic,  or  some  popularity  among  the 
good  on  account  of  dutiful  labors  for  its  sake,  let  it  be  called 
so,  as  long  as  we  employ  it  for  the  safety  of  the  good  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  madness  of  the  wicked. 

1/  But  this  investigation,  though  it  is  not  an  unjust  one,  yet 
is  not  one  which  the  senate  thought  ought  to  be  ordered ;  for 
there  were  regular  laws  and  forms  of  trial  for  murder,  or  for 
assault ;  jnor  did  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius  cause  the  senate 
such  concern  and  sorrow  that  any  new  process  of  investigation 
need  have  been  appointed ;  I  for  when  the  senate  had  had  the 
power  of  decreeing  a  trial  in  the  matter  of  that  impious  pol- 
lution of  which  he  was  guilty  taken  from  it,  who  can  believe 
it  thought  it  necessary  to  appoint  a  new  form  of  trial  about 
his  death  ?  Why  then  did  the  senate  decide  that  this  burning 
of  the  senate-house,  this  siege  laid  to  the  house  of  M.  Lepidus 
and  this  very  homicide,  had  taken  place  contrary  to  the  inter- 
est of  the  republic?  I  Why,  because  no  violence  from  one 
citizen  to  another  can  ever  take  place  in  a  free  state  which  is 
not  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  republic.  For  the  defend- 
ing of  one's  self  against  violence  is  never  a  thing  to  be  wished 
for;  but  it  is  sometimes  necessary, /unless,  indeed,  one  could 
say  that  that  day  on  which  Tiberius  Gracchus  was  slain,  or 
that  day  when  Caius  was,|or  the  day  when  the  arms  of  Satur- 
nius  were  put  down,  even  if  they  ended  as  the  welfare  of  the 
republic  demanded,  were  yet  no  wound  and  injury  to  the  re- 
public. 

VI.  Therefore  I  myself  voted,  when  it  was  notorious  that 
a  homicide  had  taken  place  on  the  Appian  road,fnot  that  he 
who  had  defended  himself  had  acted  in  a  manner 'contrary  to 
the  interests  of  the  republic;  but  as  there  was  violence  and 
treachery  in  the  business,  I  reserved  the  charge  for  trial,  I  ex- 
pressed my  disapprobation  of  the  business.  And  if  the  senate 
had  not  been  hindered  by  that  frantic  tribune  from  executing 
its  wishes,  w^  should  not  now  have  this  novel  trial.  For  the 
senate  voted  that  an  extraordinary  investigation  should  take! 
place  according  to  the  ancient  laws.  A  division  took  place,  | 
it  does  not  signify  on  whose  motion,  for  it  is  not  necessary  to 


>  ■ 


180  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mention  the  worthlessness  of  every  one,  and  so  the  rest  of  the 
authority  of  the  senate  was  destroyed  by  this  corrupt  interces- 
sion. 

"  Oh,  but  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  by  his  bill,  gave  his  decision 
both  about  the  fact  and  about  the  cause.  For  he  brought  in 
a  bill  about  the  homicide  which  had  taken  place  on  the  Ap- 
pian  road,  in  which  Publius  Clodius  was  slain."     What  then 

"did  he  propose?  That  an  inquiry  should  be  made.  What  is 
to  be  inquired  about?  Whether  it  was  committed?  That  is 
clear.  By  whom?  That  is  notorious,  jjt He  saw  that  a  de* 
fense  as  to  the  law  and  right  could  be  undertaken,  even  at  the 
very  moment  of  the  confession  of  the  act.  But  if  he  had  no£ 
seen  that  he  who  confessed  might  yet  be  acquitted,  when  he 
saw  that  we  did  not  confess  the  fact,  he  would  never  have  or- 
dered an  investigation  to  take  place,. nor  would  he  have  given 
you  at  this  trial  the  power1  of  acquitting  as  well  as  that  of  ( on- 
demning.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  Cneeus  Pompeius  not  only 
delivered  no  decision  at  all  unfavorable  to  Milo,:  but  that  he 
also  pointed  out  what  you  ought  to  turn  your  attention  to  in 
deciding.     For  he  who  did  not  assign  a  punishment  to  the 

"  confession,  but  required  a  defense  of  it,  he  clearly  thought 
that  what  was  inquired  into  was  the  cause  of  the  death,  and 
not  the  mere  fact  of  the  death.  Now  he  himself  shall  tell  us 
whether  what  he  did  of  his  own  accord  was  done  out  of  rcgai  d 
for  Publius  Clodius,  or  from  a  compliance  with  the  times. 

VII.  A  most  noble  man,  a  bulwark,  and  in  those  times,  in- 
deed, almost  a  protector  of  the  senat#,  the  uncle  of  this  our 
judge,  of  that  most  fearless  man  Marcus  Cato,  Marcus  Drusus, 
a  tribune  of  the  people,  was  slain  in  his  own  house.  The  peo- 
ple had  never  any  reference  made  to  them  in  the  matter  of 
his  death,  no  investigation  was  voted  by  the  senate.  What 
great  grief  was  there,  as  we  have  heard  from  our  forefathers 
in  this  city,  when  that  attack  was  made  by  night  on  Publius 
Africanus,  while  sleeping  in  his  own  house !  Who  was  there 
then  who  did  not  groan,  who  did  not  burn  with  indignation, 
that  men  should  not  have  waited  even  for  the  natural  and  in- 
evitable death  of  that  man  whom,  if  possible,  all  would  have 
wished  to  be  immortal  ? 

1  Literally,  "this  wholesome  letter,  as  well  as  that  melancholy  one." 
The  letter  A  was  the  "  wholesome"  letter,  being  the  initial  of  absoho,  I 
acquit ;  the  letter  C  the  melancholy  one,  being  the  initial  of  condemn.  I 
condemn. 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  181 

Was  there  then  any  extraordinary  investigation  into  the 
death  of  Africanus1  voted  ?  Certainly  none.  Why  so  ?  Be- 
cause the  crime  of  murder  is  not  different  when  eminent  men, 
or  when  obscure  ones  are  slain^  Let  there  be  a  difference  be- 
tween the  dignity  of  the  lives  of  the  highest  and  lowest  citi- 
zens. If  their  death  be  wrought  by  wickedness,  that  must  be 
avenged  by  the  same  laws  and  punishments  in  either  case ; 
unless,  indeed,  he  be  more  a  parricide  who  murders  a  father 
of  consular  rank  than  he  who  murders  one  of  low  degree ;  or, 
as  if  the  death  of  ^ublius  Clodius  is  to  be  more  criminal  be^ 
cause  he  was  slain  among  the  monuments  of  his  ancestors, — 
for  this  is  constantly  said  by  that  party ;  fas  if,  I  suppose,  that 
/illustrious  Appius  Caecus  made  that  road,  not  that  the  nation 
might  have  a  road  to  use,  but  that  his  own  posterity  might 
have  a  place  in  which  to  rob  with  impunity. 
Y  Therefore  in  that  same  Appian  road,  when  Publius  Clo- 
dius had  slain  a  most  accomplished  Roman  knight,  Marcus 
Papirius,  that  crime  was  not  to  be  punished ;  for  a  nobleman 
among  his  own  family  monuments  had  slain  a  Roman  knight. 
Now  what  tragedies  does  the  name  of  that  same  Appian  road 
awaken  ?  which,  though  nothing  was  said  about  it  formerlv, 
when  stained  with  the  murder  of  an  honorable  and  innocent 
mantis  now  incessantly  mentioned  ever  since  it  has  been  dyed 
with  the  blood  of  a  robber  and  a  parricide.  But  why  do  I 
speak  of  these  things'?  A  slave  of  Publius  Clodius  was  ar- 
rested in  the  temple  of  Castor,  whom  he  had  placed  there  to 
murder  Cnoeus  Pompeius ;  the  dagger  was  wrested  from  his 
hands  and  he  confessed  his  design ;  after  that  Pompeius  ab-  u 
sented  himself  from  the  forum,  absented  himself  from  the  sen-v{ 
ate,  and  from  all  public  places  ;  he  defended  himself  within 
his  own  doors  and  walls,  not  by  the  power  of  the  laws  and 
tribunals. 

1  After  the  death  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  Publius  ^Emilianus  Africanus 
Scipio,  the  conqueror  of  Carthage  and  Numantia,  was  known  to  be  hos- 
tile to  the  agrarian  law,  and  threw  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  it ;  his 
enemies  gave  out  that  he  intended  to  abrogate  it  by  force.  One  morning 
he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  without  a  wound.  The  cause  and  manner 
of  his  death  were  unknown  ;  some  said  it  was  natural ;  some,  that  he  had 
slain  himself;  some,  that  his  wife  Sempronia,  the  sister  of  Gracchus,  had 
strangled  him.  His  slaves,  it  was  said,  declared  that  some  strangers  had 
been  introduced  into  the  house  at  the  back,  who  had  strangled  him,  and 
the  triumvir  Carbo  is  generally  believed  to  have  been  the  chief  agent  in 
his  murder,  and  is  expressly  mentioned  as  the  muir*.*.***  by  Cicero,  Ep. 
ad  Q.  Fr.  ii.  3. 


182  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Was  any  motion  made?  was  any  extraordinary  investiga- 
tion voted?  But  if  any  circumstance,  if  any  man,  if  any  oc- 
casion was  ever  important  enough  for  such  a  step,  certainly 
all  these  things  were  so  in  the  greatest  degree  in  that  cause. 
The  assassin  had  been  stationed  in  the  forum,  and  in  the  very 
vestibule  of  the  senate.  Death  was  being  prepared  for  that 
man  on  whose  life  the  safety  of  the  senate  depended.  LtMore- 
over,  at  that  crisis  of  the  republic,  when,  if  he  alone  had  died, 
not  only  this  state,  but  all  the  nations  in  the  world  would 
have  been  ruined, — unless,  indeed,  the  crime  was  not  to  be 
\  punished  because  it  was  not  accomplished,  just  as  if  the  exe- 
cution of  crimes  was  chastised  by  the  laws,  and  not  the  inten- 
tions of  men, — certainly  there  was  less  cause  to  grieve,  as  the 
deed  was  not  accomplished,  but  certainly  not  a  whit  the  less 
cause  to  punish.  How  often,  O  judges,  have  I  myself  escaped 
from  the  weapons  and  from  the  bloody  hands  of  Publius  Clo- 
dius !  But  if  my  good  fortune,  or  that  of  the  republic,  had 
not  preserved  me  from  them,  who  would  have  proposed  any 
investigation  into  my  death  ? 

VIII.  But  it  is  foolish  of  us  to  dare  to  compare  Drusus, 
Afrieanus,  Pompeius,  or  ourselves,  with  Publius  Clodius.  All 
these  things  were  endurable.  The  death  of  Publius  Clodius 
no  one  can  bear  with  equanimity.  The  senate  is  in  mourn- 
ing ;  the  knights  grieve ;  the  whole  state  is  broken  down  as 
if  with  age  ;  the  municipalities  are  in  mourning ;  the  colonies 
are  bowed  down ;]'  the  very  fields  even  regret  so  beneficent,  so 
useful,  so  kind-hearted  a  citizen  !  That  was  not  the  cause,  O 
judges,  it  was  not  indeed,  why  Pompeius  thought  an  investi- 
gation ought  to  be  proposed  by  him  ;  but  being  a  man  wise 
and  endowed  with  lofty  and  almost  divine  intellect,  he  saw 
many  things, — that  Clodius  was  his  personal  enemy,  Milo  his 
intimate  friend  ;  ihe  feared  that,  if  he  were  to  rejoice  in  the 
common  joy  of  all  men,  the  belief  in  his  reconciliation  with 
Clodius  would  be  weakened.  He  saw  many  other  things, 
too,  but  this  most  especially, — that  in  whatever  terms  of  se- 
verity he  proposed  the  motion,  still  you  would  decide  fearless- 
ly. Therefore,  he  selected  the  very  lights  of  the  most  emi- 
nent ranks  of  the  state.  He  did  not,  indeed,  as  some  are  con- 
stantly saying,  exclude  my  friends  in  selecting  the  tribunals ; 
for  neither  did  that  most  just  man  think  of  this,  nor,  when 
he  was  selecting  good  men,  could  he  have  managed  to  do  so, 
even  had  he  wished  ;  for  my  influence  would  not  be  limited 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  183 

by  my  intimacies,  which  can  never  be  very  extensive,  because 
one  can  not  associate  habitually  with  many  people  ;  but,  if 
we  have  any  influence,  we  have  it  on  this  account,  because 
the  republic  has  associated  us  with  the  virtuous ;  and,  when 
he  was  selecting  the  most  excellent  of  them,  and  as  he  thought 
that  it  especially  concerned  his  credit  to  do  so,  he  was  un- 
able to  avoid  selecting  men  who  were  well-disposed  toward 
me. 

But  as  for  his  especially  appointing  you,  O  Lucius  Domi- 
this,  to  preside  over  this  investigation,  in  that  he  was  seeking 
nothing  except  justice,  dignity,  humanity  and  good  faith.  He 
passed  a  law  that  it  must  be  a  man  of  consular  dignity,  be- 
cause, I  suppose,  he  considered  the  duty  of  the  men  of  the 
highest  rank  to  resist  both  the  fickleness  of  the  multitude  and 
the  rashness  of  the  profligate;  and  of  the  men  of  consular  rank 
he  selected  you  above  all ;  for  from  your  earliest  youth  you 
had  given  the  most  striking  proofs  how  you  despised  the  mad- 
ness of  the  people. 

IX.  Wherefore,  O  judges,  that  we  may  at  last  come  to  the 
subject  of  action  and  the  accusation,  if  it  is  neither  the  case 
that  all  avowal  of  the  deed  is  unprecedented,  nor  that  any 
thing  has  been  determined  about  our  cause  by  the  senate  dif- 
ferently to  what  we  could  wish ;  and  if  the  proposer  of  the 
law  himself,  when  there  was  no  dispute  as  to  the  deed,  yet 
thought  that  there  should  be  a  discussion  as  to  the  law ;  and 
if  the  judges  had  been  chosen,  and  a  man  appointed  to  pre- 
side over  the  investigation,  to  decide  these  matters  justly  and 
wisely ;  it  follows,  O  judges,  that  you  have  now  nothing  else 
to  inquire  into  but  which  plotted  against  the  other  ;  and  that 
you  may  the  more  easily  discern  this,  attend  carefully,  I  en- 
treat you,  while  I  briefly  explain  to  you  the  matter  as  it  oc- 
curred. 

When  Publius  Clodius  had  determined  to  distress  the  re- 
public by  all  sorts  of  wickedness  during  his  praetorship,  and 
saw  that  the  comitia  were  so  delayed  the  year  before,  that  he 
would  not  be  able  to  continue  his  praetorship  many  months,  as 
he  had  no  regard  to  the  degree  of  honor,. as  others  have,  but 
both  wished  to  avoid  having  Lucius  Paullus,  a  citizen  of  sin- 
gular virtue,  for  his  colleague,  and  also  to  have  an  entire  year 
to  mangle  the  republic  ;  on  a  sudden  he  abandoned  his  own 
year,  and  transferred  himself  to  the  next  year,  not  from  any 
religious  scruple,  but  that  he  might  have,  as  he  said  himself 


184  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

a  full  and  entire  year  to  act  as  praetor,  that  is,  to  overthrow 
the  republic. 

It  occurred  to  him  that  his  praetorship  would  be  crippled 
and  powerless,  if  Milo  was  consul;  and,  moreover,  he  saw 
that  he  was  being  made  consul  with  the  greatest  unanimity 
of  the  Roman  people.  He  betook  himself  to  his  competitors, 
but  in  such  a  manner  that  he  alone  managed  the  whole  elec- 
tion, even  against  their  will, — that  he  supported  on  his  own 
shoulders,  as  he  used  to  say,  the  whole  comitia, — he  convoked 
the  tribes, — he  interposed, — he  erected  a  new  Colline  tribe  by 
the  enrollment  of  the  most  worthless  of  the  citizens.  In  pro- 
portion as  the  one  caused  greater  confusion,  so  did  the  other  ac- 
quire additional  power  every  day.  When  the  fellow,  prepared 
for  every  atrocity,  saw  that  a  most  brave  man,  his  greatest  en- 
emy, was  a  most  certain  consul,  and  that  that  was  declared, 
not  only  by  the  conversation  of  the  Roman  people,  but  also 
by  their  votes,  he  began  to  act  openly,  and  to  say  without  dis- 
guise that  Milo  must  be  slain. 

He  had  brought  down  from  the  Aoennines  rustic  and  bar- 
barian  slaves,  whom  you  saw,  with  whom  he  had  ravaged  the 
public  woods  and  Etruria.  The  matter  was  not  concealed  at 
all.  In  truth,  he  used  to  say  undisguisedly  that  the  consul- 
ship could  not  be  taken  from  Milo,  but  that  life  could.  He 
often  hinted  as  much  in  the  senate ;  he  said  it  plainly  in  the 
public  assembly.  Besides,  when  Favonius,  a  brave  man,  ask- 
ed him  what  he  hoped  for  by  giving  way  to  such  madness 
while  Milo  was  alive  %  he  answered  him,  that  in  three,  or  at 
most  in  four  days,  he  would  be  dead.  And  this  saying  of  his 
Favonius  immediately  reported  to  Marcus  Cato,  who  is  here 
present. 

X.  In  the  mean  time,  as  Clodius  knew — and  it  was  not 
hard  to  know  it — that  Milo  was  forced  to  take  a  yearly,  le- 
gitimate, necessary  journey  on  the  twentieth  of  January  to 
Lanuvium  to  appoint  a  priest,1  because  Milo  was  dictator  of 
Lanuvium,  on  a  sudden  he  himself  left  Rome  the  day  before, 
in  order  (as  was  seen  by  the  event)  to  lay  in  ambush  for  Milo 
in  front  of  his  farm  ;  and  he  departed,  so  that  he  was  not  pres- 
ent at  a  turbulent  assembly  in  which  his  madness  was  greatly 
missed,  and  which  was  held  that  very  day,  and  from  which  he 
never  would  have  been  absent,  if  he  had  not  desired  to  avail 
himself  of  the  place  and  opportunity  for  a  crime. 
'  It  was  the  priest  of  Juno  Sospita,  who  was  the  patroness  of  Lanuvium 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  1«5 

But  Milo,  as  he  had  been  that  day  in  the  senate  till  it  was 
dismissed,  came  home,  changed  his  shoes  and  his  garments, 
waited  a  little,  as  men  do,  while  his  wife  was  getting  ready, 
and  then  started  at  the  time  when  Clodius  might  have  re- 
turned, if,  indeed,  he  had  been  coming  to  Rome  that  day. 
*  Clodius  meets  him  unencumbered  on  horseback,  with  no  car-  """ 
riage,  with  no  baggage,  with  no  Greek  companions,  as  he  was 
used  to,  without  his  wife,  which  was  scarcely  ever  the  case ; 
while  this  plotter,  who  had  taken,  forsooth,  that  journey  for 
the  express  purpose  of  murder,  was  driving  with  his  wife  in 
a  carriage,  in  a  heavy  traveling  cloak,  with  abundant  baggage, 
and  a  delicate  company  of  women,  and  maidservants,  and  boys. 
He  meets  Clodius  in  front  of  his  farm,  about  the  eleventh  hour, 
or  not  far  from  it.  Immediately  a  number  of  men  attack  him 
from  the  higher  ground  with  missile  weapons.  The  men  who 
are  in  front  kill  his  driver,  and  when  he  had  jumped  down 
from  his  chariot  and  flung  aside  his  cloak,  and  while  he  was 
defending  himself  with  vigorous  courage,  the  m^u  who  were 
with  Clodius  drew  their  swords,  and  some  of  them  ran  back 
toward  his  chariot  in  order  to  attack  Milo  from  behind,  and 
some,  because  they  thought  that  he  was  already  slain,  began 
to  attack  his  servants  who  were  behind  him  ;  and  those  of  the 
servants  who  had  presence  of  mind  to  defend  themselves,  and 
were  faithful  to  their  master,  were  some  of  them  slain,  and  the 
others,  when  they  saw  a  fierce  battle  taking  place  around  the 
chariot,  and  as  they  were  prevented  from  getting  near  their 
master  so  as  to  succor  him,  when  they  heard  Clodius  himself 
proclaim  that  Milo  was  slain,  and  they  thought  that  it  was 
really  true,  they,  the  servants  of  Milo,  (I  am  not  speaking  for 
the  purpose  of  shifting  the  guilt  on  to  the  shoulders  of  others, 
but  1  am  saying  what  really  occurred,)  did,  without  their  mas- 
ter either  commanding  it,  or  knowing  it,  or  even  being  pres- 
ent to  see  it,  what  every  one  would  have  wished  his  servants 
to  do  in  a  similar  case. 

XI.  These  things  were  all  done,  O  judges,  just  as  I  have  re- 
lated them.  The  man  who  laid  the  plot  was  defeated  ;  vio- 
lence was  defeated  by  violence ;  or,  I  should  rather  say,  au- 
dacity was  crushed  by  valor.     I  say  nothing  about  what  the 

republic,  nothing  about  what  you,  nothing  about  what  allgood 

men  gained  by  the  result.     I  do  not  desire  it  to  be  any^aavant-^ 
age  to  me  to  hear  that  he  was  born  with  such  a  destiny  that 
he  *-a*  unable  even  to  save  himself,  without  at  the  same  time 


186  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

saving  the  republic  and  all  of  you.  If  he  had  not  a  right  to 
do  so,  then  I  have  nothing  which  I  can  urge  in  his  defense. 
But  if  both  reason  has  taught  this  lesson  to  learned  men,  and 
necessity  to  barbarians,  and  custom  to  all  nations,  and  nature 
itself  to  the  beasts,  that  they  are  at  all  times  to  repel  all  vio-. 
lence  by  whatever  means  they  can  from  their  persons,  from  their 
liberties,  and  from  their  lives,  then  you  can  not  decide  this  ac- 
tion to  have  been  wrong,  without  deciding  at  the  same  time 
that  all  men  who  fall  among  thieves  must  perish,  either  by 
their  weapons,  or  by  your  sentence. 

And  if  he  had  thought  that  this  was  the  law,  it  would  have 
been  preferable  for  Milo  to  offer  his  throat  to  Publius  Clodius, 
— which  was  not  attacked  by  him  once  only,  nor  for  the  first 
time  on  that  day,— rather  than  now  to  be  destroyed  by  you 
because  he  did  not  surrender  himself  then  to  be  destroyed  by 
him.  But  if  there  is  no  one  of  you  who  entertains  such  an 
opinion  as  that,  then  the  question  which  arises  for  the  consid- 
eration of  the  court  is,  not  whether  he  was  slain  or  not,  which 
we  admit,  but  whether  he  was  slain  legally  or  illegally,  which 
is  an  inquiry  which  has  often  been  instituted  in  many  causes. 
It  is  quite  plain  that  a  plot  was  laid ;  and  that  is  a  thing 
which  the  senate  has  decided  to  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
the  republic.  By  whom  it  was  laid  is  a  question.  And  on 
this  point  an  inquiry  has  been  ordered  to  be  instituted.  So 
the  senate  has  marked  its  disapproval  of  the  fact,  not  of  the 
man  ;  and  Pompeius  has  appointed  this  inquiry  into  the  mer- 
its of  the  case,  and  not  into  the  fact  of  its  existence. 

XII.  Does  then  any  other  point  arise  for  the  decision  of  the 
court,  except  this  one, — which  laid  a  plot  against  the  other  ! 
None  whatever.  The  case  comes  before  you  in  this  way,  that 
if  Milo  laid  a  plot  against  Clodius,  then  he  is  not  to  be  let  off 
with  impunity.  If  Clodius  laid  it  against  Milo,  then  we  are 
acquitted  from  all  guilt. 

"^  How  then  are  we  to  prove  that  Clodius  laid  a  plot  against 
Milo?  It  is  quite  sufficient  in  the  case  of  such  a  wicked,  of 
such  an  audacious  monster  as  that,  to  prove  that  he  had  great 
reason  to  do  so ;  that  he  had  great  hopes  founded  on  Milo's 
death ;  that  it  would  have  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  him. 
Therefore,  that  maxim  of  Cassius,  to  see  to  whose  advantage 
it  was,  may  well  have  influence  in  respect  of  these  persons. 
For  although  good  men  can  not  be  induced  to  commit  crimes 
by  any  advantage  whatever,  wicked  men  often  can  by  a  very 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  187 

trifling  one.     And,  if  Milo  were  slain,  Clodius  gained  this,  not 
only  that  he  should  be  preetor  without  having  him  for  a  con- 
sul, under  whom  he  would  not  be  able  to  commit  any  wicked- 
ness, but  also  that  he  should  have  those  men  for  consuls  while 
"  he  was  praetor,  who,  if  they  did  not  aid  him,  would  at  all'~~*j 
•(Events  connive  at  all  his  proceedings  to  such  an  extent  that  J 
he  hoped  he  should   be  able  to  escape  detection  in  all  the 
frantic  actions  which  he  was  contemplating ;  as  they  (so  he 
argued  to  himself)  would  not,  even  if  they  were  able  to  do  so, 
be  anxious  to  check  his  attempts  when  they  considered  that 
they  were  under  such  obligations  to  him  ;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  if  they  did  wish  to  do  so,  perhaps  they  would  hardly 
be  able  to  crush  the  audacity  of  that  most  wicked  man  when 
it  got  strength  by  its  long  continuance.     Are  you,  O  judges, 
the  only  persons  ignorant  of  all  this  ?     Are  you  living  in  this 
city  as  ignorant  of  what  passes  as  if  you  were  visitors  ?     Are 
your  ears  all  abroad,  do  they  keep  aloof  from  all  the  ordinary 
topics  of  conversation  of  the  city,  as  to  what  laws  (if,  indeed, 
they  are  to  be  called  laws,  and  not  rather  firebrands  to  de- 
stroy the  city,  pestilences  to  annihilate  the  republic)  that  man 
was  intending  to  impose  upon  all  of  us,  to  brand  on  our 
foreheads?  ■  Exhibit,  I  beg  you,  Sextus  Clodius,  produce,  I 
beg,  that  copy  of  your  laws  which  they  say  that  you  saved 
from  your  house,   and  from  the  middle  of  the  armed  band 
which  threatened  you  by  night,  and  bore  aloft,  like  another 
palladium,  in  order,  forsooth,-  to  be  able  to  carry  that  splen- 
did present,  that  instrument  for  discharging  the  duties  of  the 
tribuneship,  to   some  one,  if  you  could  obtain   his  election, 
who  would  discharge  those  duties  according  to  your  direc- 
tions.     And    *    *    *    [he  was  going  to  divide  the  freedmen 
among  all  the  tribes,  and  by  his  new  law  to  add  all  the  slaves 
who  were  going  to  be  emancipated,  but  who  had  not  yet  re- 
ceived their  freedom,  so  that  they  might  vote  equally  with  the 
free  citizens.]1 

Would  he  have  dared  to  make  mention  of  this  law,  which 
Sextus  Clodius  boasts  was  devised  by  him,  while  Milo  was 

alive,  not  to  say  while  he  was  consul  1     For  of  all  of  us > 

I  can  not  venture  to  say  all  that  I  was  going  to  say.  But  do 
you  consider  what  enormous  faults  the  law  itself  must  have 
had,  when  the  mere  mention  of  it,  for  the  purpose  of  finding 

1  The  passage  in  brackets  is  a  very  doubtful  supplement  of  Beier; 
which,  however,  Orellius  prefers  to  any  other. 


188  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

fault  with  it,  is  so  offensive.  And  he  looked  at  me  with  the 
expression  of  countenance  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  put- 
ting on  when  he  was  threatening  every  body  with  every  sort 
of  calamity.     That  light  of  the  senate-house  moves  me.1 

XIII.  What  ?  do  you  suppose,  O  Sextus,  that  I  am  angry 
with  ..you ;  I,  whose  greatest  enemy  you  have  punished  with 
even  much  greater  severity  than  my  humanity  could  resolve 
to  demand  I  You  cast  the  bloody  carcass  of  Publius  Clodius 
out  of  the  house,  you  threw  it  out  into  the  public  street,  you 
left  it  destitute  of  all  images,  of  all  funeral  rites,  of  all  funeral 
pomp,  of  all  funeral  panegyric,  hnlf  consumed  by  a  lot  of  mis- 
erable logs,  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by  the  dogs  who  nightly  prowl 
about  the  streets.  Wherefore,  although  in  so  doing  you  acted 
most  impiously,  still  you  were  wreaking  all  your  cruelty  on 
my  enemy  ;  though  I  can  not  praise  you,  I  certainly  ought  not 
to  be  angry  with  you.     *     *     * 

[I  have  demonstrated  now,  O  judges,  of  what  great  con- 
sequence it  was  to  Clodius]  that  Milo  should  be  slain.  Now 
turn  your  attention  to  Milo.  What  advantage  could  it  be  to 
Milo  that  Clodius  should  be  slain?  What  reason  was  there 
why  Milo,  I  will  not  say  should  do  such  an  action,  but  should 
even  wish  for  his  death?  Oh,  Clodius  was  an  obstacle  to 
Milo's  hope  of  obtaining  the  consulship.  But  he  was  obtain- 
ing it  in  spite  of  him.  Ay,  I  might  rather  say  he  was  ob- 
taining it  all  the  more  because  Clodius  was  opposing  him  ;  nor 
in  fact  was  I  a  more  efficient  support  to  him  than  Clodius  was. 
The  recollection,  O  judges,  of  the  services  which  Milo  had 
done  to  me  and  to  the  republic,  had  weight  with  you.  My 
entreaties  and  my  tears,  with  which  I  perceived  at  that  time 
that  you  were  greatly  moved,  had  weight  with  you  ;  but  still 
more  weight  had  your  own  fear  of  the  dangers  which  were 
impending.  fFbr  who'of  the  citizens  was  there  who  could  turn 
his  eyes  to  the  unrestrained  pra^torship  of  Publius  Clodius, 
without  feeling  the  greatest  dread  of  a  revolution  ?  and  un- 
restrained you  saw  that  it  would  be  unless  you  had  a  consul 
who  had  both  courage  and  power  to  restrain  him ;  and  as  the 
whole  lloman  people  saw  that  Milo  alone  was  that  man,  who 
could  hesitate  by  his  vote  to  release  himself  from  fear,  and  the 
republic  from  danger  ? 

But  now,  now  that  Clodius  is  removed,  Milo  has  got  to  la- 

1  Cicero  here  supposes  Sextus  Clodius  to  look  menacingly  at  him,  in 
order  to  check,  him  in  his  attack  on  this  intended  law. 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  189 

bor  by  more  ordinary  practices  to  preserve  his  dignity.  That 
pre-eminent  glory,  which  was  then  attributed  to  him  alone, 
and  which  was  daily  increasing  in  consequence  of  his  efforts 
to  repress  the  frenzy  of  Clodius,  has  been  put  an  end  to  by 
the  death  of  Clodius.  You  have  gained  your  object  of  being 
no  longer  afraid  of  anv  one  of  the  citizens ;  he  has  lost  that 
incessant  arena  for  his  vajor,  that  which  procured  him  votes 
for  the  consulship,  that  ceaseless  and  ever-springing  fountain 
of  his  glory.  Therefore,  Milo's  canvass  for  the  consulship, 
which  could  not  be  hindered  from  prospering  while  Clodius 
was  alive,  now,  the  moment  that  he  is  dead,  is  attempted  to 
be  checked.  So  that  the  death  of  Clodius  is  not  only  no  ad- 
vantage, but  is  even  a  positive  injury  to  Milo. 

"  Oil,  but  his  hatred  prevailed  with  him  ;  he  slew  him  in  a 
passion ;  he  slew  him  because  he  was  his  enemy ;  he  acted  as 
the  avenger  of  his  own  injury ;  he  was  exacting  atonement  to 
appease  his  private  indignation."  But  what  will  you  say  if 
these  feelings,  I  do  not  say  existed  in  a  greater  degree  in  Clo- 
dius than  in  Milo,  but  if  they  existed  in  the  greatest  possible 
degree  in  the  former,  and  not  at  all  in  the  latter?  What  will 
you  require  beyond  that  ?  For  why  should  Milo  have  hated 
Clodius,  the  material  and  ground-work  of  his  glory,  except  as 
far  as  that  hatred  becoming:  a  citizen  Sfoes,  with  which  we  hate 
all  worthless  men  ?  There  was  plenty  of  reason  for  Clodius 
to  hate  Milo,  first,  as  the  defender  of  my  safety ;  secondly, 
as  the  repressor  of  his  frenzy?  the  defeater  of  his  arms ;  and 
lastlv,  also,  as  his  prosecutor,  for  Clodius  was  liable  to  the 
prosecution  of  Milo,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Plotian 
law,  as  long  as  he  lived.  And  with  what  feelings  do  you  sup- 
pose that  that  tyrant  bore  that  ?  how  great  do  you  suppose, 
was  his  hatred  toward  him?  and,  indeed,  how  reasonable  a 
hatred  was  it  for  a  wicked  man  to  entertain. 

XIV.  It  remains  for  me  now  to  urge  his  natural  disposition 
and  his  habits  of  life  in  the  defense  of  the  one,  and  the  very 
same  things  as  an  accusation  against  the  other.  Clodius,  I 
suppose,  had  never  done  any  thing  by  violence  ;  Milo  had  done 
every  thing  by  violence.  What  then  shall  I  say,  O  judges'? 
When,  amid  the  grief  of  all  of  you,  I  departed  from  the  city, 
was  I  afraid  of  the  result  of  a  trial?  was  I  not  afraid  of 
slaves,  and  arms  and  violence?  What,  I  pray  you,  was  the 
first  ground  of  my  restoration,  except  that  I  had  been  unjustly 
driven  out  ?     Clodius,  I  suppose,  had  commenced  a  formal 


N 


190  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

prosecution  against  me ;  he  had  named  a  sum  as  damages ; 
he  had  commenced  an  action  for  high  treason ;  and,  I  sup- 
pose too,  I  had  cause  to  fear  your  decision  in  a  cause  which 
was  an  unjust  one,  which  was  my  own  private  cause,  not  one 
which  was  a  most  righteous  one,  and  which  was,  in  reality, 
your  cause,  and  not  mine  ?  No, — I  was  unwilling  that  my 
fellow-citizens,  who  had  been  saved  by  my  prudence  and  by 
my  own  personal  danger,  should  be  exposed  to  the  arms 
of  slaves  and  needy  citizens  and  convicted  malefactors.  For 
I  saw — I  saw,  I  say,  this  very  Quintus  Hortensius,  the  light 
and  ornament  of  the  republic,  almost  slain  by  the  hand  of 
slaves,  while  he  was  standing  by  me.  In  which  crowd  Caius 
Vibienus,  a  senator,  a  most  excellent  man,  who  was  with 
Hortensius,  was  so  maltreated  that  he  lost  his  life. 

When,  then,  was  it  that  that  assassin's  dagger  of  his, 
which  he  had  received  from  Catiline,  rested?  It  was  aimed 
at  us  ;  I  would  not  allow  you  all  to  be  exposed  to  it'  for 
my  sake.  It  was  prepared  in  treachery  for  Pompeius.  It 
stained  with  blood,  through  the  murder  of  Papirius,  the  very 
Appian  road,  the  monument  of  his  name  ;  this,  this  same 
dagger,  after  a  long  interval  was  again  turned  against  me; 
lately,  as  you  know,  it  nearly  murdered  me  close  to  the  palace 
of  Ancus. 

What  is  there  of  Milo's  conduct  like  all  this?  when  all  the 
violence  that  he  has  ever  displayed  has  amounted  to  this,  that 
he  wished  to  prevent  Publius  Clodius  (as  he  could  not  be 
brought  to  trial)  from  oppressing  the  city  by  violence.  And 
if  he  wished  to  put  him  to  death,  what  great,  what  repeated, 
and  what  splendid  opportunities  he  had  of  doing  so !  Might 
he  not  have  avenged  himself  without  violating  the  law  when 
he  was  defending  his  own  house  and  his  household  gods  from 
his  attacks'?  might  he  not  have  done  so  when  that  illustrious 
citizen  and  most  gallant  man,  Publius  Sextius,  his  own  col- 
league, was  wounded  ?  might  he  not  have  done  so  when  that 
most  excellent  man,  Quintus  Fabricius,  while  carrying  a  bill 
for  my  restoration,  was  driven  away,  and  when  a  most  cruel 
slaughter  was  taking  place  in  the  forum  %  Might  he  not  have 
done  so  when  the  house  of  Lucius  Ccecilius,  that  most  upright 
and  fearless  praetor,  was  attacked  ?  might  he  not  have  done 
so  on  the  day  on  which  the  law  concerning  me  was  passed, 
and  when  that  vast  concourse  of  people  from  all  parts  of  Italy, 
whom  a  regard  for  my  safety  had  roused  up,  would  have  gladly 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  191 

recognized  and  adopted  as  its  own  the  glory  of  that  action  1 
so  that,  even  if  Milo  had  performed  it,  the  whole  state  would 
claim  the  praise  of  it  as  belonging  to  itself? 

XV.  And  what  a  time  was  it?  A  most  illustrious  and 
fearless  consul,  Publius  Lentulus,  an  enemy  to  Clodius,  the 
avenger  of  his  wickedness,  the  bulwark  of  the  senate,  the  de- 
fender of  your  inclinations,  the  patron  of  that  general  una^ 
nimity,  the  restorer  of  my  safety ;  seven  prsetors,  eight  tribunes 
of  the  people,  adversaries  of  him,  defenders  of  me ;  Cna^us 
Pompeius,  the  prime  mover  of  and  chief  agent  in  my  return, 
his  open  enemy ;  whose  opinion  respecting  my  return,  deliv- 
ered in  the  most  dignified  and  rnos>1f  complimentary  language^ 
the  whole  senate  adopted ;  he  who  exhorted  the  whole  Ro- 
man people,  and,  when  he  passed  a  decree  concerning  me  at 
Capua,  gave  himself  the  signal  to  all  Italy,  which  was  eager 
for  it,  and  which  was  imploring  his  good  faith,  to  join  together 
for  the  purpose  of  restoring  me  to  Rome ;  in  short,  universal 
hatred  on  the  part  of  all  the  citizens,  was  excited  against  him, 
while  their  minds  were  inflamed  with  as  earnest  a  regret  for 
me ;  so  that  if  any  one  had  slain  him  at  that  time,  people's 
thoughts  would  have  been,  not  how  to  procure  impunity  for 
such  a  man,  but  how  to  reward  him  sufficiently. 

Nevertheless,  Milo  restrained  himself,  and  twice  summoned 
Publius  Clodius  before  the  court,  but  never  once  invited  him 
to  a  trial  of  strength  in  scenes  of  violence.  What  do  I  say  % 
while  Milo  was  a  private  individual,  and  on  his  trial  before 
the  people,  on  the  accusation  of  Publius  Clodius,  when  an  at- 
tack was  made  on  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  while  speaking  in  defense 
of  Milo,  was  there  not  then  not  only  an  admirable  opportunity 
of,  but  even  a  reasonable  pretext  for  slaying  him  1  And  lately, 
when  Marcus  Antonius  had  inspired  all  virtuous  men  with  the 
very  greatest  hope  of  safety,  and  when  he,  being  a  most  noble 
young  man,  had  with  the  greatest  gallantry  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  republic,  and  had  that  beast  almost  in  his  toils  in  spite 
of  his  avoiding  the  snares  of  the  law ;  what  an  opportunity, 
what  a  time  and  place  was  there,  O  ye  immortal  gods !  And 
when  Clodius  had  fled  and  hidden  himself  in  the  darkness  of 
the  -stairs,  there  was  a  fine  opportunity  for  Milo  to  slay  him 
without  incurring  the  slightest  odium  himself,  and  to  load 
Antonius  at  the  same  time  with  the  greatest  glory  !  What  ? 
How  repeatedly  had  he  a  similar  chance  in  the  comitia !  when 
he  had  broken  into  the  voting  booth,  and  contrived  to  have 


192  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

swords  drawn  and  stones  thrown,  and  then  on  a  sudden,  terrf- 
fied  at  the  look  of  Milo,  fled  toward  the  Tiber,  and  you  and  all 
virtuous  men  prayed  to  heaven  that  Milo  might  take  it  into 
his  head  to  give  full  scope  to  his  valor. 

XVI.  If  then  he  did  not  choose  to  slay  him,  when  he  might 
have  done  so  with  the  gratitude  of  every  one,  is  it  likely  that 
he  should  have  chosen  to  do  so  when  some  people  were  sure 
to  complain  of  it?  If  he  did  not  venture  to  do  it  when  he 
might  have  done  so  lawfully,  when  he  hacl  both  place  and 
time  in  his  favor,  when  he  might  have  done  so  with  impu- 
nity, can  we  believe  that  be  did  not  hesitate  to  slay  him  un- 
justly at  a  time  and  place  which  supplied  him  with  no  ex- 
cuse for  the  deed,  when  it  was  at  the  hazard  of  his  life  ?  es- 
pecially, O  judges,  when  the  day  of  contest  for  the  greatest 
distinction  of  the  state,  and  the  day  of  the  comitia,  was  at 
hand.  At  which  time,  (for  I  know  what  a  nervous  thing 
ambition  is,  how  vehement  and  how  anxious  is  the  desire  for 
the  consulship.)  we  are  afraid  of  every  thing,  not  only  of  those 
things  which  can  be  openly  found  fault  with,  but  even  of  what- 
ever can  be  secretly  thought ;  we  shudder  at  every  rumor,  at 
every  idle  and  empty  story  ;  we  look  anxiously  at  every  one's 
countenance,  at  every  one's  eye.  For  there  is  nothing  so  soft, 
so  tender,  so  frail,  so  flexible,  as  the  inclinations  and  feelings 
of  our  fellow-citizens  toward  us  ;  for  they  are  not  only  angry 
at  any  impropriety  in  the  conduct  of  candidates,  but  they  often 
even  take  a  disgust  at  our  virtuous  actions. 

Did  Milo  then,  keeping  in  view  this  long  hoped-for  and 
wished-for  day  of  the  Campus  Martius,  propose  to  himself  to 
come  to  those  venerable  auspices  of  the  centuries  with  bloody 
hands,  owning  and  confessing  a  wickedness  and  a  crime  1  How 
perfectly  incredible  is  such  conduct  in  such  a  man  !  At  the 
same  time,  how  undoubted  is  it  in  the  case  of  Clodius,  who 
thought  that  he  should  be  a  kino;  as  soon  as  Milo  was  slain. 
What  shall  I  say  more  ?  This  is  the  very  mainspring  of  au- 
dacity, O  judges,  for  who  is  there  who  does  not  know  that 
the  greatest  temptation  of  all  to  do  wrong  is  the  hope  of  im- 
punity 1  Now,  in  which  of  the  two  did  this  exist !  In  Milo  ? 
who  is  even  now  on  his  trial  for  an  action  which  I  contend 
was  an  illustrious  one,  but  which  was  at  all  events  a  nec- 
essary one ;  or  in  Clodius "?  who  had  shown  such  contempt 
for  courts  of  justice  and  punishment,  that  he  took  no  pleasure 
in  any  thing  which  was  not  either  impious,  from  its  disregard 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  193 

of  the  prohibitions  of  nature,  or  illegal,  from  its  violation  of 

law. 

But  what  am  I  arguing  about !  why  do  I  keep  on  disput- 
ing at  greater  length  ?  I  appeal  to  you,  O  Quintus  Petiilius, 
a  most  virtuous  and  fearless  citizen  ;  I  call  you  to  witness,  O 
Marcus  Cato  ;  whom  some  heavenly  interposition  has  given  me 
forjudges.  You  have  heard  from  Marcus  Favonius,  and  you 
heard  it  too  while  Clodius  was  alive,  that  he,  Clodius,  had  said 
to  him  that  Milo  would  die  within  three  days, — and  on  the 
third  day  the  deed  which  he  had  mentioned  was  put  in  execu- 
tion. When  he  did  not  hesitate  to  reveal  what  he  was  think- 
ing of,  can  you  have  any  doubt  what  he  did  *? 

XVII.   How  then  was  it,  that  he  was  so  correct  in  the  day? 
I  told  you  that  just  now.      There  was  no  great  difficulty  in 
knowing  the  regular  days  of  sacrifice  for  the  dictator  of  Lanu- 
Tium.     He  saw  that  it  was  necessary  for  Milo  to  go  to  Lanu- 
vium  on  the  very  day  in  which  he  did  go, — therefore,  he  an- 
ticipated him.     But  on  what  day  f   Why,  on  the  day  on  which, 
as  I  have  said  before,  there  was  a  most  furious  assembly  of  the 
people,  stirred  up  by  the  tribune  of  the  people  whom  he  had 
in  his  pay — a  day,  and  an  assembly,  and  an  uproar  which  he 
would  never  have  missed  if  he  had  not  been  hastening  to  some 
premeditated  crime.     Therefore,  he  had  not  only  no  reason  for 
going  on  a  journey,  but  he  had  even  a  reason  for  stopping  at 
4ioine.     Milo  had  no  possibility  of  stopping  at  home,  and  he 
had  not  only  a  reason,  but  a  positive  necessity  for  going  on  a 
journey.     What  more  ?     Suppose,  while  he  knew  that  Milo 
must  go  on  the  road  on  that  day,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  Milo  ** 
could  not  even  suspect  that  Clodius  would  1     For,  first  of  all, 
I  ask,  how  could  Milo  know  it  ?  a  question  which  you  can  not 
ask  respecting  Clodius.     For  even  if  he  had  not  asked  any  one 
beyond  his  own  intimate  friend  Titus  Patina,  he  could  have  as- 
certained from  him  that  on  that  particular  day  a  priest  must 
absolutely  be  appointed  at  Lanuvium  by  Milo  as  the  dictator 
there.  /  But  there  were  plenty  more  people  from  whom  he  could 
easily  learn  that ;  for  instance,  all  the  people  of  Lanuvium.    Of 
whom  did  Milo  make  any  inquiry  about  the  return  of  Clodius? 
Grant  that  he  did  make  inquiry  ;  see  what  large  allowances  I 
am  making  you :  grant  even  that  he  bribed  his  slave,  as  my  \ 
good  friend  Quintus  Arrius  said. — Read  the  evidence  of  your 
own  witnesses. 

Caius  Cassinius  Schola,  a  man  of  Interamna,  gave  his  ev- 

I 


194  pICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

idencc, — a  most  intimate  friend  of  Publius  Clodius,  and  more, 
a  companion  of  his  at  the  very  time  ;  according  to  whose  testi-  . 
mony,  Publius  Clodius  was  at  Interamna  and  at  Pome  at  the 
very  same  time.  Well,  he  said,  that  Publius  Clodius  had  in- 
tended to  remain  that  day  at  his  Alban  villa ;  but  that  on  a 
sudden  news  was  brought  to  him,  that  Cyrus  his  architect  was 
dead ;  and,  therefore,  that  he  determined  to  proceed  to  Rome 
immediately.  Caius  Clodius,  who  was  also  a  companion  of 
Publius  Clodius,  said  the  same. 

XVIII.  Take  notice,  O  judges,  what  the  real  effect  of  this 
evidence  must  be.  First  of  all,  Milo  is  certainly  acquitted  of 
having  set  out  with  the  express  intention  of  waylaying  Clodius 
on  his  road ;  this  must  be,  since  there  was  apparently  no  chance 
whatever  of  his  meeting  him.  In  the  next  place  (for  I  see  no 
reason  why  I  should  not  do  something  for  myself  at  the  same 
time),  you  know,  O  judges,  that  there  have  been  men  found  to 
say,  while  urging  on  this  bill  against  Milo,  that  the  murder  was 
committed  by  the  hand  indeed  of  Milo^  but  by  the  plan  of  some 
one  of  more  importance  than  he.  yThose  abject  and  profligate 
men,  forsooth,  pointed  me  out  as  a  robber  and  assassin.  Now 
they  lie  convicted  by  their  own  witnesses,  who  say  that  Clodius 
would  not  have  returned  to  Rome  that  day  if  he  had  not  heard 
the  news  about  Cyrus.  I  breathed  again ;  I  was  delivered ; 
I  am  not  any  longer  afraid  of  being  supposed  to  have  contem- 
plated an  action  which  I  could  not  possibly  have  suspected. 

Now  I  will  examine  the  other  point.  For  this  expression 
occurs  in  their  speech :  "  Therefore,  Clodius  never  even  thought 
of  the  plot  against  Milo,  since  he  intended  to  remain  in  his  Al- 
ban villa."  Yes,  he  meant  to  remain  there,  if  he  did  not  rath- 
er intend  to  go  out  and  commit  a  murder.  For  I  see  that  the 
messenger  who  is  said  to  have  brought  him  news  of  Cyrus's 
death  did  not  announce  that  to  him,  but  told  him  that  Milo 
was  at  hand.  For  why  should  lie  bring  any  news  about  Cy- 
rus, whom  Clodius  had  left  at  Rome  on  his  death-bed '?  I  was 
with  him  ;  I  signed  his  will  as  a  witness  together  with  Clodi- 
us; and  he  had  openly  made  his  will,  and  had  left  him  and  me 
his  heirs.  When  he  had  left  him  the  day  before,  at  the  third 
hour,  at  the  very  point  of  death,  was  news  sent  express  to  him 
the  next  day,  at  the  tenth  hour,  that  he  was  at  last  dead? 

XIX.  Well,  be  it  so;  what  reason  had  he  for  hastening  to 
Rome?  for  starting  at  nightfall?  Why  should  the  fact  of  his 
being  his  heir  cause  him  to  make  so  much  haste?     In  the  first 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  195 

place,  there  was  no  reason  why  there  should  be  need  of  any 
haste  ;  secondly,  even  if  there  was,  still  what  was  there  which 
he  could  obtain  that  night,  but  which  he  would  lose  if  he  ar- 
rived at  Rome  early  the  next  morning1?  And  as  an  arrival 
in  the  city  by  night  was  rather  to  be  avoided  by  him  than  to 
be  desired,  so  it  was  just  suited  for  Milo  to  lie  in  ambush  and 
wait  for  him,  as  he  was  a  plotter  of  that  sort,  if  he  knew  that 
he  was  likely  to  come  to  the  city  by  night.  He  would  have 
slain  him  by  night,  in  a  place  calculated  for  an  ambush  and 
full  of  robbers ;  no  one  would  have  refused  to  believe  him  if 
he  denied  it,  when  now  all  men  wish"  to  save  him  even  when 
he  confesses  it.  The  brunt  of  the  blame  would  have  fallen 
on  the  place  itself,  so  well  suited  to  receive  and  conceal  rob^- 
bers,  while  neither  -the  voiceless  solitude  would  have  informed 
against,  nor  the  dark  night  discovered  Milo ;  secondly,  the 
numbers  of  men  who  had  been  insulted  by  Clodius,  or  plun- 
dered by  him,  or  stripped  of  all  their  property  by -him,  many, 
too,  who  were  in  constant  fear  of  such  misfortunes,  would  have 
fallen  under  suspicion  ;  in  short,  the  whole  of  Etruria  would 
have  been  impeached  in  people's  opinion. 

And  certainly  on  that  day  Clodius  returning  from  Aricia  did 
turn  aside  to  xiis  Alban  villa.  But  although  Milo  knew  that 
he  was  at  Aricia,  still  he  ought  to  have  suspected  that  he,  even 
if  he  was  desirous  to  return  to  Rome  that  day,  would  turn  aside 
to  his  own  villa,  the  grounds  of  which  skirted  the  road.  Why, 
then,  did  he  not  meet  him  before,  and  prevent  his  going  to  his 
villa?  nor  wait  in  that  place  where  he  would  certainly  arrive 
by  night  ? 

I  see  that  all  things  up  to  this  point  are  plain  and  consist- 
ent. That  it  was  even  desirable  for  Milo  that  Clodius  should 
live ;  that  for  Clodius  the  death  of  Milo  was  the  most  advan- 
tageous thing  possible,  with  reference  to  those  objects  on  which 
he  had  set  his  heart ;  that  he  bore  him  the  most  bitter  hatred^ 
but  that  Milo  had  no  such  feelings  toward  him ;  that  the  one 
lived  in  a  perpetual  round  of  violence,  that  the  other's  habits 
were  limited  to  repelling.jt ;  that  Milo  had  been  threatened 
by  him  with  death,  and  that  his  death  had  been  openly  pre- 
dicted by  him  ;  that  no  such  expression  had  ever  been  heard 
from  Milo ;  that  the  day  of  Milo's  journey  was  well  known 
to  Clodius,  but  that  Clodius's  return  was  unknown  to  Milo; 
that  the  journey  of  the  one  was  inevitable,  and  that  of  the 
other  was  even  inconvenient  to  himself;  that  the  one  had 


196  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

openly  declared  that  on  that  day  he  should  set  out  from 
Koine,  that  the  other  had  concealed  the  fact  of  his  intending 
to  return  on  that  day  ;  that  the  one  had  in  no  respect  what- 
ever changed  his  intention,  that  the  other  had  invented  a  false 
pretense  for  changing  his  mind  ;  that  the  one,  if  he  were  plot- 
ting, would  naturally  wish  night  to  come  on  when  he  was  near 
the  city,  while  an  arrival  at  the  city  by  night  was  to  be  feared 
by  the  other,  even  if  he  had  no  apprehension  of  danger  from 
this  man. 

XX.  Let  us  now  consider  this,  which  is  the  main  point  of 
all;  for  which  of  the  two  the  identical  spot  where  they  did 
meet  was  the  best  suited  for  planting  an  ambush.  But  is  that, 
O  judges,  a  matter  about  which  one  can  possibly  doubt  or 
think  seriously  for  a  moment  1  In  front  of  Clodius's  farm, — 
that  farm  on  which,  on  account  of  those  absurd  erections  and 
excavations  for  foundations  of  his,  there  were  pretty  well  a 
thousand  vigorous  men  employed, — on  that  high  and  raised 
ground  belonging  to  his  adversary,  did  Milo  think  that  he 
should  get  the  better  in  the  contest,  and  had  he  with  that 
view  selected  that  spot  above  all  others?  Or  was  he  rather 
waited  for  in  that  place  by  a  man  who  had  conceived  the  idea 
of  attacking,  because  of  the  hopes  that  that  particular  spot 
suggested  to  him  1  The  facts,  O  judges,  speak  for  themselves  ; 
facts,  which  are  always  of  the  greatest  weight  in  a  cause.  If 
you  were  not  hearing  of  this  transaction,  but  were  looking  at 
a  picture  of  it,  still  it  would  be  quite  visible  which  of  the 
two  was  the  plotter,  which  was  thinking  no  evil,  when  one  of 
the  two  was  driving  in  a  chariot  wrapped  up  in  a  mantle,  with 
bis  wife  sitting  by  his  side.  It  is  hard  to  say  which  was  the 
greatest  hinderance  to  him,  his  dress,  or  his  carriage,  or  his 
wife.  How  could  a  man  be  less  ready  for  battle  than  when 
he  was  entangled  in  a  mantle  as  in  a  net,  hampered  with  a 
carriage,  and  fettered  as  it  were  by  his  wife  clinging  to  him  ? 
/~Cook,  on  the  other  hand,  at  Clodius,  first  setting  out  from  his 
villa ;  all  on  a  sudden  :  why  ?  It  was  evening.  Why  was  he 
forced  to  set  out  at  such  a  time  ?  Going  slowly.  What  was 
the  object  of  that,  especially  at  that  time  of  night  ?  He  turns 
aside  to  the  villa  of  Pompeius.  To  see  Pompeius?  He  knew 
that  he  was  near  Alsium.  To  see  the  villa?  He  had  been  in 
it  a  thousand  times.  What,  then,  was  his  object?  Delay; 
he  wanted  to  waste,  the  time.  He  did  not  choose  to  leave  the 
Spot  till  Milo  arrived. 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  197 

XXI.  Come  now,  compare  the  journey  of  this  unencum- 
bered bandit  with  all  the  hinderances  which  beset  Milo.  Be- 
fore this  time  he  always  used  to  travel  with  his  wife;  now 
he  was  without  her.  He  invariably  went  in  a  carriage ;  now 
he  was  on  horseback.  His  train  were  a  lot  of  Greeklings 
wherever  he  was  going ;  even  when  he  was  hastening  to  the 
camp  in  Etrnria;1  but  this  time  there  were  no  triflers  in  his 
retinue.  Milo,  who  was  never  in  the  habit  of  doing  so,  did  by 
chance  have  with  him  some  musical  slaves  belonging  to  his 
wife,  and  troops  of  maid  servants.  The  other  man,  who  was 
always  carrying  with  him  prostitutes,  worn-out  debauchees 
both  men  and  women,  this  time  had  no  one  with  him  except 
such  a  band  that  you  might  have  thought  every  one  of  themj 
picked  men.  Why,  then,  was  he  defeated  ?  Because  the  trav- 
eler is  not  always  murdered  by  the  robber;  sometimes  the 
robber  is  killed  by  the  traveler;  because,  although  Clodius 
in  a  state  of  perfect  preparation  was  attacking  men  wholly 
unprepared,  still  it  was  the  case  of  a  woman  falling  upon  men. 
And,  indeed,  Milo  was  never  so  utterly  unprepared  for  his 
violence,  as  not  to  be  nearly  sufficiently  prepared.  He  wai> 
always  aware  how  greatly  it  concerned  the  interest  of  Publius 
Clodius  that  he  should  be  slain,  how  greatly  he  hated  him, 
and  how  great  was  his  daring.  Wherefore,  he  never  exposed 
his  life  to  danger  without  some  sort  of  protection  and  guard, 
knowing  that  it  was  threatened,  and  that  a  large  price,  as  it 
were,  were  set  upon  it. 

Add  to  this  consideration  all  the  chances ;  add  the  always 
uncertain  result  of  a  battle,  and  the  common  fortune  of  Mars, 
who  often  overthrows  the  man  who  is  already  exulting  and 
stripping  his  enemy,  and  strikes  him  to  the  ground  by  some 
mean  agent ;  add  the  blundering  conduct  of  a  leader  who  had 
dined  and  drank,  and  who  was  yawning  and  drowsy;  who, 
when  he  had  left  his  enemy  cut  off  in  the  rear,  never  thought 
of  his  companions  on  the  outskirts  of  his  train;  and  then 
when  he  fell  among  them  inflamed  with  anger,  and  despairing 
of  saving  the  life  of  their  master,  he  fell  on  that  punishment 
which  the  faithful  slaves  inflicted  on  him  as  a  retribution 
for  their  master's  deatn.  Why,  then,  has  Milo  emancipated 
them?  He  was  afraid,  I  suppose,  lest  they  should  give  in- 
formation against  him;  lest  they  should  be  unable  to  bear 

1  That  is,  to  Manlius's  camp  in  Etruria  at  the  time  of  Cataline's  con- 
spiracy, in  which,  in  all  probability,  Clodius  was  implicated. 


198  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

pain  ;  lest  they  should  he  eompelled  by  tortures  to  confess 
that  Publius  Clodius  was  slain  in  the  Appian  road  by  the 
slaves  of  Milo. 

What  need  is  there  of  any  torturer?  What  do  you  want 
to  know  ?  whether  he  was  slain  f  He  was  slain.  Whether  he 
was  slain  lawfully  or  unlawfully?  That  is  beyond  the  prov- 
ince of  the  torturer.  For  the  rack  can  only  inquire  into  the 
fact ;  it  is  the  bench  of  judges  that  must  decide  on  the  law. 

XXII.  Let  us  then  here  confine  our  attention  to  what 
must  be  investigated  in  this  trial.  All  that  you  can  want  to 
find  out  by  tortures  we  admit.  But  if  you  prefer  asking  why 
he  emancipated  his  slaves,  rather  than  why  he  gave  them  in- 
adequate rewards,  you  are  but  a  bungling  hand  at  finding  fault 
with  an  enemy.  For  Marcus  Cato,  who  says  every  thing  with 
great  wisdom,  and  consistency,  and  courage,  said  the  same 
thing ;  and  he  said,  too,  in  a  very  turbulent  assembly  of  the 
people,  which,  however,  was  pacified  by  his  authority,  that 
those  slaves  were  wrorthy  not  only  of  liberty,  but  even  of  every 
sort  of  reward  possible,  who  had  defended  the  life  of  their 
master.  For  what  reward  can  be  sufficiently  great  for  such 
well-affected,  such  virtuous,  such  faithful  slaves,  owing  to 
whom  it  is  that  he  is  still  alive  ?  Although  even  that  is  not 
putting  it  so  strongly  as  to  say,  that  it  is  owing  to  those  very 
men  that  he  did  not  glut  the  eyes  and  'mind  of  his  most  cruel 
enemy  with  his  blood  and  wrounds.  And  if  he  had  not 
emancipated  them,  then  those  preservers  of  their  master, 
those  avengers  of  wickedness,  those  defenders  of  *  their  master 
from  death,  must  have  even  been  surrendered  to  torture. 
But  in  all  these  misfortunes  the  most  comfortable  reflection 
which  Milo  has  is,  that,  even  if  any  thing  should  happen  to 
himself,  still  he  has  given  them  the  reward  which  they  de- 
served. 

But  nowr  the  examinations  which  have  just  been  conducted 
in  the  hall  of  liberty,  are  said  to  press  against  Milo.  Who 
are  the  slaves  who  have  been  examined  ?  Do  you  ask  ?  The 
slaves  of  Publius  Clodius.  Who  demanded  that  they  should 
be  examined?  Appius.  Who  produced  them?  Appius. 
Where  were  they  brought  from  ?  From  the  house  of  Appius. 
O  ye  good  gods,  what  can  be  done  with  more  animosity? 
There  is  no  law  which  authorizes  slaves  to  be  examined  as 
witnesses  against  their  master,  except  on  accusations  of  im- 
piety, as  was  the  case  in  the  prosecution  instituted  against 


) 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  199 


Clodius.  Clodius  has  been  raised  nearly  to  the  gods,  more 
nearly  than  even  when  he  penetrated  into  their  sanctuary, 
when  an  investigation  into  the  circumstances  of  his  death  is 
carried  on  like  one  into  a  profanation  of  sacred  ceremonies. 
But  still,  our  ancestors  did  not  think  it  right  that  slaves  should 
be  examined  as  witnesses  against  their  masters ;  not  because 
the  truth  could  not  be  discovered,  but  because  it  seemed  a 
scandalous  thing  to  do,  and  more  oppressive  to  the  masters 
than  even  death  itself.  "Well,  then,  when  the  slaves  of  the 
prosecutor  are  examined  as  witnesses  against  the  defendant, 
can  the  truth  be  found  out? 

Come,  however,  what  was  the  examination ;  and  how  was 
it  conducted  1  Holloa,  you  Eufio  (that  name  will  do  as  well 
as  another),  take  care  you  tell  the  truth.  Did  Clodius  lay 
a  plot  against  Milo?  "He  did."  He  is  sure  to  be  crucified 
for  saying  so.  "  Certainly  not."  He  has  hopes  of  obtaining 
his  liberty.  "What  can  be  more  certain  than  this  mode  of  ex- 
amination? The  men  are  suddenlv  carried  off  to  be  examined  ; 
they  are  separated  from  all  the  rest,  and  put  into  ceils  that  no 
one  may  be  able  to  speak  to  them.  Then,  when  they  have 
been  kept  a  hundred  days  in  the  power  of  the  prosecutor, 
they  are  produced  as  witnesses  by  the  prosecutor  himself. 
What  can  be  imagined  more  upright  than  this  sort  of  ex- 
amination ?  What  can  be  more  free  from  all  suspicion  of 
corruption  1 

XXIII.  And  if  you  do  not  yet  see  with  sufficient  clearness 
(though  the  transaction  is  evident  of  itself  by  so  many  and 
such  irresistible  arguments  and  proofs),  that  Milo  was  return- 
ing to  Rome  with  a  pure  and  guiltless  intention,  with  no  taint 
of  wickedness,  under  no  apprehension,  without  any  conscious- 
ness of  crime  to  disquiet  him ;  recollect,  I  implore  you,  in 
the  name  of  the  immortal  gods,  how  rapid  his  speed  while 
returning  was ;  how  he  entered  the  forum  while  the  senate- 
house  was  all  on  fire  with  eagerness ;  how  great  was  the  mag- 
nanimity which  he  displayed;  how  he  looked,  and  what  he 
eaid.  Nor  did  he  trust  himself  to  the  people  only,  but  also 
to  the  senate ;  nor  to  the  senate  only,  but  also  to  the  public 
guards  and  their  arms ;  nor  to  them  only,  but  also  to  the 
power  of  that  man  to  whom  the  senate  had  already  intrusted1 

1  The  disturbances  on  the  death  of  Clodius  arose  to  such  a  height,  that 
the  senate  at  last  passed  a  resolution  that  Marcus  Lepidus  the  Interrex, 
assisted  by  the  tribunes  of  the  people  and  Pompeius,  should  take  care  that 


200  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  whole  republic,  all  the  youth  of  Italy,  and  all  the  arms 
of  the  Eoman  people.  And  surely  he  never  would  have  put 
himself  in  his  power,  if  he  had  not  been  confident  in  the  jus- 
tice of  his  cause ;  especially  as  he  was  one  who  heard  every 
thing,  and  feared  great  danger,  and  suspected  many  things, 
and  even  believed  some.  The  power  of  conscience  is  very 
great,  O  judges,  and  is  of  great  weight  on  both  sides:  so  that 
they  fear  nothing  who  have  done  no  wrong,  and  they,  on  the 
other  hand,  who  have  done  wrong  think  that  punishment  is 
always  hanging  over  them. 

Nor,  indeed,  is  it  without  good  reason  that  Milo's  cause  has 
always  been  approved  of  by  the  senate.  For  these  wisest  of 
men  took  into  their  consideration  the  whole  circumstances  of 
the  case ;  Milo's  presence  of  mind,  and  vigor  in  defending 
himself.  Have  you  forgotten,  O  judges,  when  the  news  of 
Clodius's  death  was  still  recent,  the  opinions  and  the  language 
which  was  held,  not  only  by  Milo's  enemies,  but  also  by  other 
ignorant  people?  They  said  that  he  would  not  return  to 
Home  at  all.  For  if  he  had  committed  the  deed  in  a  passion- 
ate and  excited  mood,  so  that  he  had  slain  his  enemy  while 
under  the  influence  of  strong  hatred,  they  thought  that  he 
would  consider  the  death  of  Publius  Glodius  an  event  of  such 
importance,  that  he  would  bear  being  deprived  of  his  country 
with  equanimity,  as  he  had  sated  his  hatred  in  the  blood  of 
his  enemy ;  or,  if  he  had  deliberately  intended  to  deliver  his 

r country  by  the  slaughter  of  Clodius,  then  they  thought  that 
he,  as  a  brave  man,  would  not  hesitate,  after  having  brought 
safety  to  his  country  at  his  own  risk,  to  submit  with  equanim- 
ity to  the  laws,  to  carry  off  with  himself  everlasting  renown, 
and  to  leave  those  things  to  us  to  enjoy  which  he  had  pre- 
served for  us  himself. 

Many  also  spoke  of  Catiline  and  the  monsters  of  his  train. 
"  We  shall  have  another  Catiline  breaking  out.      He  will  oc~ 

the  republic  received  no  injury.  And  at  last  the  senate  appointed  Pom- 
peius  consul  without  a  colleague,  who  immediately  published  several  new 
laws,  and  among  them  the  one  under  which  this  trial  was  conducted  (see 
note  on  c.  1),  and  he  now  limited  the  duration  of  trials,  allowing  only 
three  days  for  the  examination  of  witnesses,  and  on  the  fourth  day  the  ac- 
cuser was  only  allowed  two  hours  to  enforce  the  accusation,  and  the  de- 
fendant three  hours  to  speak  in  his  defense.  Coclius  endeavored  to  arrest 
these  laws  by  his  veto  as  tribune,  declaring  that  they  were  framed  solely 
with  a  view  to  crush  Milo,  whom  Pompeius  certainly  desired  to  get  rid 
of;  to  effect  which  he  even  descended  to  the  artifice  of  pretending  to  be- 
lieve that  Milo  had  laid  a  plot  to  assassinate  him. 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  201 

ctipy  some  strong  place ;  he  will  make  war  on  his  country." 
Wretched  sometimes  is  the  fate  of  those  citizens  who  have 
faithfully  served  the  republic !  when  men  not  only  forget  the 
illustrious  exploits  which  they  have  performed,  but  even  sus- 
pect them  of  the  most  nefarious  designs  !  Therefore,  all  those 
things  were  false,  which  would  certainly  have  turned  out  true 
if  Milo  had  committed  any  action  which  he  could  not  defend 
with  honor  and  with  truth. 

XXIV.  What  shall  I  say  of  the  charges  which  were  after- 
ward heaped  upon  him  %  which  would  have  crushed  any  one 
who  was  conscious  of  even  trifling  offenses.  How  nobly  did 
he  support  them!  O  ye  immortal  gods,  do  I  say  support 
them?  Say  rather,  how  did  he  despise  them,  and  treat  them 
as  nothing !  Charges  which  no  guilt)'  man,  were  he  ever  so 
high-minded,  and,  indeed,  no  innocent  man,  unless  he  were 
also  a  most  fearless  man,  could  possibly  have  disregarded.  It 
was  said  that  a  vast  collection  of  shields,  swords,  bridles, 
lances,  and  javelins  had  been  seized.  They  said  that  there 
was  no  street,  no  alley  in  the  whole  city,  in  which  there  was 
not  a  house  hired  for  Milo ;  that  arms  had  been  earned  down 
the  Tiber  to  his  villa  at  Oriculum ;  that  his  house  on  the 
Capitoline  Hill  was  full  of  shields  ;  that  eveiy  place  was  full 
of  firebrands  prepared  for  the  burning  of  the  city.  These 
things  were  not  only  reported,  but  were  almost  believed,  and 
were  not  rejected  till  they  had  been  thorodghly  investigated 
I  praised,  indeed,  the  incredible  diligence  of  Cnseus  Pompeius ; 
but  still  I  will  say  what  I  really  think,  O  judges. 

Those  men  are  compelled  to  listen  to  too  many  statements ; 
indeed,  they  can  not  do  otherwise,  who  have  the  whole  republic 
intrusted  to  them.  It  was  necessary  even  to  listen  to  that 
eating-house  keeper  Licinius,  if  that  was  his  name,  a  fellow 
out  of  the  Circus  Maximus,  who  said  that  Milo's  slaves  had 
got  drunk  in  his  house, — that  they  had  confessed  to  him  that 
they  were  engaged  in  a  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Cnaus  Pom- 
peius, and  that  he  himself  was  afterward  stabbed  by  one  of 
them  to  prevent  him  from  giving  information.  He  went  to 
t'ompeius's  villa  to  tell  him  this.  I  am  sent  for  among  the 
first,  By  the  advice  of  his  friends,  Pompeius  reports  the  affair 
to  the  senate.  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  be  otherwise  than 
frightened  almost  to  death  at  the  bare  suspicion  of  such  danger 
to  one  who  was  the  protector  both  of  me  and  of  my  country ; 
but  still  I  wondered  that  an  eating-house  keeper  should  be  at 

12 


202  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

once  believed, — that  the  confession  of  the  slaves  should  be  list* 
er>d  to,  and  that  a  wound  in  the  side,  which  looked  like  the  v 
prick  of  a  needle,  should  be  admitted  to  be  a  wound  inflicted 
by  a  gladiator.  But,  as  I  take  the  fact  to  have  been,  Pom- 
peius  was  rather  taking  precautions  than  feeling  any  actual 
alarm,  guarding  not  only  against  those  things  which  it  was 
reasonable  to  fear,  but  also  against  everything  which  could 
possibly  disquiet  you. 

The  house  of  Caius  Caesar,  that  most  illustrious  and  gallant 
man,  was  besieged,  as  was  reported,  during  many  hours  of  the 
night.  No  one  in  that  frequented  part  of  the  city  had  either 
seen  or  heard  of  any  such  thing.  Still  such  a  report  was  spread 
about.  I  could  not  possibly  suspect  Cnseus  Pompeius,  a  man 
of  the  most  admirable  valor,  of  being  timid  ;  and  I  thought  no 
diligence  could  be  overstrained  in  a  man  who  had  undertaken 
the  management  and  protection  of  the  whole  of  the  republic. 
In  a  very  full  meeting  of  the  senate,  lately  held  in  the  Capitol, 
a  senator  was  found  to  say  that  Milo  had  a  weapon  about  him. 
He  threw  back  his  garments  in  that  most  sacred  temple,  that, 
since  the  life  of  so  good  a  citizen  and  so  good  a  man  "could  not 
procure  him  credit,  the  facts  themselves  might  speak  for  him, 
while  he  held  his  peace. 

XXV.  Every  word  was  ascertained  to  be  a  false  and  treach- 
erous invention.  And  if  people  are  even  now  afraid  of  Milo, 
we  are  not  now  under  apprehension  because  of  the  charge  re- 
specting Clodius,  but  we  are  shuddering  at  your  suspicions, — 
at  yours,  I  say,  O  Cnaeus  Pompeius  (for  I  address  you  your- 
self, and  I  speak  loudly  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  hear  me). 
If  you  are  afraid  of  Milo, — if  you  believe  that  he  either  now 
cherishes  wicked  designs  against  your  life,  or  that  he  ever  has 
entertained  such  ;  if  the  levying  of  troops  throughout  Italy,  as 
some  of  your  recruiting-sergeants  pretend, — if  these  arms, — 
if  these  cohorts  in  the  Capitol, — if  these  watchmen,  these  sen- 
tinels,— if  this  picked  body  of  youths,  which  is  the  guard  of 
your  person  and  your  house,  is  all  armed  against  an  attack  on 
the  part  of  Milo  ;  and  if  all  these  measures  have  been  arranged, 
and  prepared,  and  aimed  against  him  alone, — then  certainly  he 
must  be  a  man  of  great  power,  of  incredible  courage;  surely 
it  must  be  more  than  the  power  and  resources  of  one  single 
man  which  are  attributed  to  him,  if  the  most  eminent  of  our 
generals  is  invested  with  a  command,  and  all  Italy  is  armed 
against  this  one  man.     But  who  is  there  who  does  not  under- 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  203 

stand  that  all  the  diseased  and  feeble  parts  of  the  republic 
were  intrusted  to  you,  O  Fompeius,  that  you  might  heal  and 
strengthen  them  with  your  arms?      And  if  an  opportunity 
had  been  afforded  to  Milo,  he  would,  doubtless,  have  proved 
to  you  yourself  that  no  man  was  ever  more  dear  to  another 
than  you  are  to  him ;  that  he  had  never  shunned  any  danger 
which  might  be  of  service  in  promoting  your  dignity  ;   that  he 
had  often  contended  against  that  most  foul  pest  on  behalf  of 
your  glory ;  that  his  conduct  in  his  tribuneship  had  been  en- 
tirely regulated  by  your  counsels  for  the  protection  of  my  safe- 
ty, which  was  an  object  very  dear  to  you  ;  that  he  afterward 
had  been  defended  by  you  when  in  danger  of  his  life,1  and  had 
been  assisted  by  you  when  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  praetor- 
ship  ;  and  that  he  had  always  believed  that  the  two  firmest 
friends  whom  he  had  were  you  and  I, — you,  as  shown  by  the 
kindness  of  your  behavior  to  him,  and  I,  secured  to  him  by  the 
services  which  he  himself  had  done  me.     And  if  he  could  not 
convince  you  of  this, — if  that  suspicion  had  sunk  so  deep  in 
your  mind  that  it   could  not  possibly  be   eradicated;    if,  in 
short,  Italy  was  never  to  have  any  rest  from  those  levies,  nor 
the.  city  from  arms,  till  Milo  was  ruined, — then  no  doubt  he, 
without  hesitation,  would  have  departed  from  his  country,  a 
man  born  to  make  such  sacrifices  and  accustomed  to  make 
them  ;  but  still  he  would  have  cited  you,  O  Magnus,  as  a  wit- 
ness in  his  favor,  as  he  now  does. 

XXVI.  See,  now,  how  various  and  changeable  is  the  course 
of  human  life, — how  fickle  and  full  of  revolutions  is  fortune ; 
what  instances  of  perfidy  are  seen  in  friends,  how  they  dissem- 
ble and  suit  their  behavior  to  the  occasion ;  when  dangers  be- 
set one,  how  one's  nearest  connections  fly  off,  and  what  cow- 
ardice they  show.  The  time  will  come,  ay,  will  most  certain- 
ly come, — that  day  will  surely  dawn  some  time  or  other,  when 
you,  though  your  affairs  are  all,  as  I  trust  they  will  be,  in  a 
really  sound  condition,  though  they  may,  perhaps,  wear  an 
altered  appearance  in  consequence  of  some  commotion  of  the 
times,  such  as  we  are  all  liable  to  (and  how  constantly  such 
things  happen  we  may  know  from  experience), — when  you, 

1  When  Clodius  was  sedile,  he  instituted  a  prosecution  against  Milo 
for  violence.  Pompeius,  Crassus  and  Cicero  appeared  for  him ;  and 
though  Clodius's  mob  raised  a  great  uproar,  and  endeavored  to  prevent 
Pompeius  from  being  heard,  he  made  a  long  speech,  lasting  three  hours, 
in  his  defense.  The  trial  was  adjourned  from  February  till  May,  and  doea 
Dot  appear  to  have  ever  been  brought  to  a  regular  termination. 


204  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

I  say,  may  be  in  need  of  the  good-will  of  one  who  is  most 
deeply  attached  to  you,  and  the  good  faith  of  a  man  of  the 
greatest  weight  and  dignity,  and  the  magnanimity  of  the  very 
bravest  man  that  ever  lived  in  the  world.  Although,  who 
would  believe  that  Cmeus  Pompeius,  a  man  most  thoroughly 
versed  in  public  law,  in  the  usages  of  our  ancestors,  and  in  all 
the  affairs  of  the  republic,  after  the  senate  has  intrusted  to 
him  the  charge  of  taking  care  "  that  the  republic  suffered  no 
injury,"  by  which  one  line  the  consuls  have  always  been  suf- 
ficiently armed,  even  though  no  warlike  weapons  were  given 
to  them, — that  he,  I  say,  after  having  had  an  army  and  a  levy 
of  troops  given  to  him,  would  wait  for  a  legal  decision  to  re- 
press the  designs  of  that  man  who  was  seeking  by  violence  to 
abolish  the  courts  of  justice  themselves? 

It  was  sufficiently  decided  by  Pompeius,  quite  sufficiently, 
that  all  those  charges  were  falsely  brought  against  IVIilo  ;  when 
he  passed  a  law  by  which,  as  I  conceive,  he  was  bound  to  be 
acquitted  by  you, — at  all  events,  as  all  men  allow,  might  le- 
gally be  acquitted.     But  when  he  sits  in  that  place,  surround- 
ed by  all  those  bands  of  public  guards,  he  declares  plainly 
k  enough  that  he  is  not  striking  terror  into  you  ((or  what  could 
l\be  less  worthy  of  him  than  to  condemn  a  man  whom  he  him- 
\self  might  punish  if  guilty,  both  by  his  own  authority  and  in 
/strict  accordance  with  the  precedents  of  our  ancestors?),  but 
that  he  keeps  them  about  him  for  the  sake  of  protection ;  that 
you  may  be  aware  that  it  is  allowed  to  you  to  decide  with 
freedom  according  to  your  own  opinions,  in  contradiction  to 
that  assembly  of  the  people  which  was  held  yesterday. 

XXVII.  Nor,  O  judges,  am  I  at  all  moved  by  the  accusa- 
tion respecting  Clodius.  Nor  am  I  so  insane,  and  so  ignorant 
of,  and  inexperienced  in,  your  feelings,  as  not  to  be  aware  what 
your  opinions  are  about  the  death  of  Clodius,  concerning 
which,  if  I  were  unwilling  to  do  away  with  the  accusation  in 
the  manner  in  which  I  have  done  away  with  it,  still  I  assert 
that  it  would  have  been  lawful  for  Milo  to  proclaim  openly, 
with  a  false  but  glorious  boast,  "  I  have  slain,  I  have  slain, 
not  Spurius  Melius,  who  fell  under  the  suspicion  of. aiming  at 
kingly  power  by  lowering  the  price  of  corn,  and  by  squander- 
ing his  own  family  estate,  because  by  that  conduct  he  was 
thought  to  be  paying  too  much  court  to  the  common  people ; 
not  Tiberius  Gracchus,  who,  out  of  a  seditious  spirit,  abro- 
gated the  magistracy  of  his  own  colleague    whose  slayers  have 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  205 

filled  the  whole  world  with  the  renown  of  their  name ;  but 
nim"  (for  he  would  venture  to  name  him  when  he  had  deliv- 
ered his  country  at  his  own  risk)  *>  m  ho  was  detected  in  the 
most  infamous  adultery  in  the  most  sacred  shrine,  by  most  no- 
ble women  ;  him,  by  the  execution  of  whom  the  senate  has  re- 
peatedly resolved  that  solemn  religious  observances  required  to 
be  propitiated ;  him  whom  Lucius  Lucullus,  when  he  was  ex- 
amined on  the  point,  declared  on  his  oath  that  he  had  detected 
in  committing  unhallowed  incest  with  his  own  sister ;  him, 
who  by  means  of  armed  bands  of  slaves  drove  from  his  country 
that  citizen  whom  the  senate,  whom  the  Roman  people,  whom 
all  nations  had  declared  to  be  the  saviour  of  the  city  and  of  the 
lives  of  all  the  citizens ;  him,  wrho  gave  kingdoms,  took  them 
away,  and  distributed  the  whole  world  to  whomsoever  he 
pleased ;  him  who,  after  having  committed  numberless  mur- 
ders in  the  forum,  drove  a  citizen  of  the  most  extraordinary 
virtue  and  glory  to  his  own  house  by  violence  and  by  arms ; 
him,  to  whom  nothing  was  ever  too  impious  to  be  done,  wheth- 
er it  was  a  deed  of  atrocity  or  of  lust ;  him,  who  burnt  the  tem- 
ple of  the  nymphs,  in  order  to  extinguish  the  public  record  of 
the  census  which  was  committed  to  the  public  registers ;  last- 
ly, him  who  acknowledged  no  law,  no  civil  rights,  no  bound- 
aries to  any  man's  possessions, — who  sought  to  obtain  other 
people's  estates,  not  by  actions  at  law  and  false  accusations, 
not  by  unjust  claims  and  false  oaths,  but  by  camps,  by  an 
army,  by  regular  standards  and  all  the  pomp  of  war, — who, 
by  means  of  arms  and  soldiers,  endeavored  to  drive  from  their 
possessions,  not  only  the  Etrurians,  for  he  thoroughly  despised 
them,  but  even  this  Publius  Varius,  that  most  gallant  man 
and  most  virtuous  citizen,  one  of  our  judges, — who  went  into 
many  other  people's  villas  and  grounds  with  architects'  and 
surveyors,  who  limited  his  hopes  of  acquiring  possessions  by 
Janiculum  and  the  Alps ;  him  who,  when  he  was  unable  to 
prevail  on  an  estimable  and  gallant  Roman  knight,  Marcus 
Paconius,  to  sell  him  his  villa  on  the  Prelian  Lake,  suddenly 
conveyed  timber,  and  lime,  and  mortar,  and  tools  in  barks  to 
the  island,  and  while  the  owner  of  the  island  was  looking  at 
him  from  the  opposite  bank,  did  not  hesitate  to  build  a  house 
on  another  man's  land ;  who  said  to  Titus  Furfanius — O  ye 
immortal  gods,  what  a  man  !  (for  why  should  I  mention  that 
insignificant  woman,  Scantia,  or  that  youth  Aponius,  both  of 
whom  he  threatened  with  dOh  if  they  did  not  abandon  to 


20G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

him  the  possession  of  their  villas'?)  but  he  dared  to  say  to 
Furfanius,  that  if  he  did  not  give  him  as  much  money  as  he 
demanded,  he  would  carry  a  dead  body  into  his  house,  and  so 
raise  a  storm  of  unpopularity  against  him ;  who  turned  his 
brother  Appius,  a  man  connected  with  me  by  the  most  faith- 
ful friendship,  while  he  was  absent,  out  of  the  possession  of 
his  farm  ;  who  determined  to  run  a  wall  across  the  vestibule 
of  his  sister's  house  in  such  a  manner,  and  to  draw  the  line 
of  foundation  in  such  a  direction,  as  not  only  to  deprive  his 
sister  of  her  vestibule,  but  of  all  access  to  her  house,  and  of 
her  own  threshold."  a 

XXVIII.  Although  all  these  things  appeared  such  as  might 
be  endured, — although  he  attacked  with  equal  fury  the  repub- 
lic, and  private  individuals,  and  men  who  were  at  a  distance, 
and  men  who  were  near,  people  who  had  no  connection  with 
him,  and  his  own  relations ;  yet  somehow  or  other  the  incred- 
ible endurance  of  the  state  had  by  long  use  grown  hardened 
and  callous.  But  as  for  the  things  which  were  at  hand,  and 
were  impending  over  you,  in  what  manner  was  it  possible  for 
you  either  to  avert  them  or  to  bear  them  ?  If  he  had  once 
obtained  real  power, — I  say  nothing  of  our  allies,  of  foreign 
nations,  and  kings,  and  tetrarchs ;  for  you  would  have  prayed 
that  he  might  turn  himself  against  them  rather  than  against 
your  possessions,  your  houses,  and  your  money :  money  do  I 
say  ?  your  children  rather, — I  solemnly  swear  he  would  never 
have  restrained  himself  from  your  children  and  from  your_ 
wives.^jDo  you  think  that  these  things  are  inventions  of  mine?  \ 
They  are  evident ;  they  are  notorious  to  every  one ;  they  are  / 
proved.  Is  it  an  invention  of  mine  that  he  was  about  to  en-  4 
list  an  army  of  slaves  in  the  city,  by  whose  instrumentality 
he  might  take  possession  of  the  whole  republic,  and  of  the 
private  fortune  of  every  one  ? 

Wherefore,  if  Titus  Annius,  holding  in  his  hand  a  bloody 
sword,  had  cried  out,  "  Come  hither,  I  beg  of  you,  and  listen 
to  me,  O  citizens :  I  have  slain  Publius  Clodius ;  with  this 
sword  and  with  this  right  hand  I  have  turned  aside  from  your 
necks  the  frenzied  attacks  of  that  man  whom  we  were  unable 
to  restrain  by  any  laws,  or  by  any  judicial  proceedings  what- 
ever ;  by  my  single  efforts  has  it  been  brought  to  pass  that 
right,  and  equity,  and  laws,  and  liberty,  and  modesty,  and 
chastity  remain  in  this  city;"  would  there  in  truth  have  been 
any  reason  to  fear  in  what  manner  the  city  would  receive  this 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  207 

announcement  1  For  now,  as  it  is,  who  is  there  who  does  not 
approve  of  what  has  been  done  %  who  does  not  praise  it  ?  who 
does  not  both  say  and  feel  that  of  all  men  to  whom  recollec- 
tion can  reach  back,  Titus  Annius  has  done  the  republic  the 
greatest  service ;  that  of  all  men  he  has  diffused  the  greatest 
jov  among  the  Eoman  people,  and  over  the  whole  of  Italy, 
and  throughout  all  nations?  I  can  not  form  a  conception  of 
what  would  have  been  the  old-fashioned  joy  of  the  Eoman 
people.  Already  our  age  has  seen  many,  and  those  most 
illustrious  victories,  won  by  consummate  generals;  but  not 
one  of  them  has  brought  with  it  a  jov  that  either  lasted  so 
long,  or  that  was  so  excessive  while  it  did  last. 

Commit  this  fact  to  memory,  O  judges.  I  trust  that  you 
and  your  children  will  see  many  happy  days  in  the  republic. 
On  every  such  occasion  these  will  always  be  your  feelings, — 
that  if  Publius  Clodius  had  been  alive,  you  never  would  have 
seen  one  of  them.  We  have  been  led  now  to  conceive  the 
greatest,  and,  as  I  feel  sure,  the  best-founded  hopes,  that  this 
very  day,  this  most  admirable  man  being  made  our  consul, 
when  the  licentiousness  of  men  is  checked,  their  evil  passions 
put  down,  the  laws  and  courts  of  justice  re-established  on  a 
firm  footing,  will  be  a  salutary  day  for  the  republic.  Is  there, 
then,  any  one  so  insane  as  to  think  that  he  could  have  obtained 
all  this  while  Publius  Clodius  was  alive1?  What?  why,  what 
power  of  perpetual  possession  could  you  have  had  even  in 
those  things  which  you  possess  as  your  private  property  and 
in  the  strictest  sense  your  own,  while  that  frenzied  man  held 
the  reins  of  government  % 

XXIX.  I  have  no  fear,  O  judges,  lest  it  should  seem  that, 
because  I  am  inflamed  with  hatred  against  him,  on  account  of 
my  own  personal  enmity  to  the  man,  I  am  vomiting  forth  these 
charges  against  him  with  more  zeal  than  truth.  In  truth, 
though  it  is  natural  that  that  should  be  an  especial  stimulus 
to  me,  yet  he  was  so  completely  the  common  enemy  of  all  men, 
that  my  own  hatred  only  bore  about  its  fair  proportion  to  the 
general  detestation  with  which  he  was  regarded.  It  can  not 
be  expressed,  O  judges,  it  can  not  even  be  imagined,  how  much 
wickedness,  how  much  mischief  there  was  in  that  man. 

Moreover,  attend  to  me  with  this  idea,  O  judges.  This  in- 
vestigation relates  to  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius.  Imagine 
in  your  minds, — for  our  thoughts  are  free,  and  contemplate 
whatever  they  choose  in  such  a  manner  that  we  do  discern 


208  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

those  things  which  we  think  we  see ; — place,  therefore,  before 
your  mind's  eye  the  image  of  this  my  condition  ;  if  I  am  able 
to  induce  you  to  acquit  Milo,  but  still  only  on  condition  of 
Publius  Clodius  being  restored  to  life.  What  fear  is  that  that 
you  show  by  your  countenances?  How  would  he  affect  you 
if  alive,  when  even  now  that  he  is  dead  he  has  so  agitated  you 
by  the  bare  thought  of  him?  What?  if  Cna?us  Pompeius 
himself,  who  is  a  man  of  such  virtue  and  such  good  fortune 
that  he  has  at  all  times  been  able  to  do  things  which  no  one 
except  him  ever  could  have  done, — if  even  he,  I  say,  had  been 
able,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  has  ordered  an  investigation 
into  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius  to  take  place,  so  also  to 
raise  him  from  the  dead,  which  do  you  think  he  would  have 
preferred  to  do?  Even  if  out  of  friendship  he  had  been 
willing  to  raise  him  from  the  shades  below,  out  of  regard 
for  the  republic  he  would  not  have  done  it.  Yon,  then,  are 
sitting  now  as  avengers  of  the  death  of  that  man,  whom 
you  would  not  restore  to  life  if  you  thought  it  possible  that 
his  life  could  be  restored  by  you.  And  this  investigation  is 
appointed  to  be  made  into  the  death  of  a  man  who  would 
never  have  seen  such  a  law  passed,  if  the  law  which  ordered 
the  inquiry  had  been  able  to  restore  him  to  life.  Ought, 
then,  the  slayer  of  this  man,  if  any  such  slayer  there  be, 
to  have  any  reason,  while  confessing  the  deed,  to  fear  pun- 
/  ishment  at  the  hand  of  those  men  whom  he  delivered  by  the 
deed? 

Grecian  nations  give  the  honors  of  the  gods  to  those  men 
who  have  slain  tyrants.  What  have  I  not  seen  at  Athens? 
what  in  the  other  cities  of  Greece  ?  What  divine  honors  have 
I  not  seen  paid  to  such  men  ?  What  odes,  what  songs  have  I 
not  heard  in  their  praise?  They  are  almost  consecrated  to 
immortality  in  the  memories  and  worship  of  men.  And  will 
you  not  only  abstain  from  conferring  any  honors  on  the  sa- 
viour of  so  great  a  people,  and  the  avenger  of  such  enormous 
wickedness,  but  will  you  even  allow  him  to  be  borne  off  for 
punishment?  lie  would  confess, — I  say,  if  he  had  done  it, 
he  would  confess  with  a  high  and  willing  spirit  that  he  had 
done  it  for  the  sake  of  the  general  liberty ;  a  thing  which 
would  certainly  deserve  not  only  to  be  confessed  by  him,  but 
even  to  be  boasted  of. 

XXX.  In  truth,  if.  he  does  not  deny  an  action  from  which 
he  seeks  no  advantage  beyond  being  pardoned  for  having  <iono 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  209 

it,  would  he  hesitate  to  avow  an  action  for  which  he  would  be 
entitled  to  claim  rewards?  Unless  indeed  he  thinks  it  more 
pleasing  to  you  to  look  upon  him  as  having  been  the  defender 
of  his  own  life,  rather  than  of  you ;  especially  as  from  that 
confession,  if  you  were  to  choose  to  be  grateful,  he  would  reap 
the  very  highest  honors.  If  his  action  were  not  approved  of 
by  you  (although,  how  is  it  possible  that  any  one  should  not 
approve  of  what  secured  his  own  safety?), — but  still,  if  the 
virtue  of  a  most  gallant  man  had  happened  to  be  at  all  un- 
pleasing  to  his  fellow-citizens,  then  with  a  lofty  and  firm  mind 
he  would  depart  from  an  ungrateful  city.  For  what  could  be 
more  ungrateful  than  for  all  other  men  to  be  rejoicing,  and 
for  him  alone  to  be  mourning,  to  whom  it  was  owing  that  the 
rest  were  rejoicing-?  Although  we  have  all  at  all  times  been 
of  this  disposition  with  respect  to  crushing  traitors  to  our 
country, — that  since  the  glory  would  be  ours,  wre  should  con- 
sider the  danger  and  the  unpopularity  ours  also.  For  what 
praise  should  I  have  deserved  to  have  given  to  me,  when  I 
showed  so  much  courage  in  my  consulship  on  behalf  of  you 
and  of  your  children,  if  I  had  supposed  that  I  could  venture 
on  the  exploits  which  I  was  attempting  without  very  great 
struggles  and  dangers  to  mvself  ?  What  woman  is  there  who 
would  not  dare  to  slay  a  wicked  and  mischievous  citizen,  if 
she  was  not  afraid  of  the  danger  of  the  attempt?  But  the 
man  who,  though  unpopularity,  and  death,  and  punishment 
are  before  his  eyes,  still  ventures  to  defend  the  republic  with 
no  less  alacritv  than  if  no  such  evils  threatened  him,  he  de- 
serves  to  be  considered  really  a  man. 

It  behooves  a  grateful  people  to  rewrard  those  citizens  who 
have  deserved  well  of  the  republic ;  it  is  the  part  of  a  brave 
man,  not  to  be  so  moved  even  by  execution  itself,  as  to  repent 
of  having  acted  bravely.  Wherefore,  Titus  Annius  may  well 
make  the  same  confession  which  Ahala  made,  which  Xasica, 
which  Opimius,  which  Marius,  which  we  ourselves  have  made  : 
and  then,  if  the  republic  were  grateful,  he  would  rejoice  ;  if 
ungrateful,  then,  though  under  the  pressure  of  heavy  misfor- 
tune, he  would  still  be  supported  by  his  own  conscience. 

But,  O  judges,  the  fortune  of  the  Roman  people,  and  your 
felicity,  and  the  immortal  gods,  all  think  that  they  are  enti- 
tled to  vour  gratitude  for  this  service  which  has  been  thus 
done  to  you.  Xor,  indeed,  can  any  one  think  otherwise  ex- 
cept it  be  a  man  who  thinks  that  there  is  no  such  thing  at 


210  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

all  as  any  divine  power  or  authority — a  man  who  is  neither 
moved  by  the  vastness  of  your  empire,  nor  by  that  sun  above 
us,  nor  by  the  motions  of  heaven  and  of  the  stars,  nor  by  the 
vicissitudes  and  regular  order  of  things,  nor  (and  that  is  the 
greatest  thing  of  all)  by  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors ;  who 
both  themselves  cultivated  with  the  most  holy  reverence  the 
sacred  rites  and  religious  ceremonies  and  auspices,  and  also 
handed  them  down  to  us  their  posterity  to  be  so  cultivated 
by  us. 

XXXI.  There  is,  there  is  indeed,  such  a  heavenly  power. 
It  is  not  the  truth,  that  in  these  bodies  and  in  this  feebleness 
of  ours  there  is  something  which  is  vigorous  and  endued  with 
feeling,  and  nothing  which  is  so  in  this  vast  and  beautiful 
movement  of  nature.  Unless  perhaps  some  people  think  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  in  existence  because  it  is  not  apparent, 
nor  visible :  just  as  if  we  were  able  to  see  our  own  mind, — 
that  by  which  we  are  wise,  by  which  we  have  foresight,  by 
which  we  do  and  say  these  verv  things  which  we  are  doing 
and  saying ;  or  as  if  we  could  plainly  feel  what  sort  of  thing 
it  is,  or  where  it  is.  That  divine  power,  that  very  same  di- 
vine power  which  has  often  brought  incredible  prosperity  and 
power  to  this  city,  has  extinguished  and  destroyed  this  mis- 
chief; by  first  of  all  inspiring  it  with  the  idea  of  venturing  to 
irritate  by  violence  and  to  attack  with  the  sword  the  bravest 
of  men,  and  so  leading  it  on  to  be  defeated  by  the  man  whom 
if  it  had  only  been  able  to  defeat  it  would  have  enjoyed  end- 
less license  and  impunity.  That  result  was  brought  about, 
O  judges,  not  by  human  wisdom,  nor  even  by  any  moderate 
degree  of  care  on  the  part  of  the  immortal  gods.  In  truth, 
those  very  holy  places  themselves  which  beheld  that  monster 
fall,  appear  to  have  been  moved  themselves,  and  to  have  as- 
serted their  rights  over  him. 

I  implore  you,  I  call  you  to  witness, — you,  I  say,  O  ye 
Alban  hills  and  groves,  and  you,  O  ye  altars  of  the  Albans, 
now  overthrown,  but  nevertheless  partners  of  and  equals  in 
honor  with  the  sacred  rites  of  the  Roman  people, — ye,  whom 
that  man  with  headlong  insanity,  having  cut  down  and  de- 
stroyed the  most  holy  groves,  had  overwhelmed  with  his  insane 
masses  of  buildings;  it  was  your  power  then  that  prevailed, 
it  was  the  divinity  of  your  altars,  the  religious  reverence  duo 
to  you,  and  which  he  had  profaned  by  every  sort  of  wicked- 
ness, that  prevailed ;  and  you,  too,  O  sacred  J  upiter  of  Latium, 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  211 

whose  hikes  and  groves  and  boundaries  he  had  constantly  pol- 
luted with  every  sort  of  abominable  wickedness  and  debauch- 
ery, you  at  last,  from  your  high  and  holy  mountain,  opened 
your  eyes  for  the  purpose  of  punishing  him  ;  it  is  to  you,  to 
all  of  you,  that  those  punishments,  late  indeed,  but  still  just 
and  well  deserved,  have  been  made  an  atonement  for  his  wick- 
edness. 

Unless,  perchance,  Ave  are  to  say  that  it  was  by  accident 
that  it  happened  that  it  was  before  the  very  shrine  of  the 
Good  Goddess  which  is  in  the  farm  of  Titus  Sextus  Gallius, 
a  most  honorable  and  accomplished  young  man, — before  the 
Good  Goddess  herself,  I  say,  that  when  he  had  begun  the 
battle,  he  received  that  first  wound  under  which  he  gave  up 
that  foul  soul  of  his ;  so  that  he  did  not  seem  to  have  been 
acquitted  in  that  iniquitous  trial,  but  only  to  have  been  re- 
served for  this  conspicuous  punishment. 

XXXII.  Nor,  indeed,  did  that  same  anger  of  the  gods  ab- 
stain from  inflicting  the  very  same  insanity  on  his  satellites, 
so  that  without  the  images  of  his  ancestors,  without  any  fun- 
eral song  or  funeral  games,  without  any  obsequies,  any  lam- 
entation, or  any  panegyric, — without,  in  short,  any  funeral  at 
all,  smeared  over  with  gore  and  mud,  and  cleprived  even  of 
the  honors  which  are  paid  to  every  one  on  that  last  day,  and 
which  even  enemies  are  wont  to  allow  to  a  man,  he  was  cast 
out  in  the  street  half  burnt,  It  was  not  right,  I  suppose,  for 
the  effigies  of  most  illustrious  men  to  confer  any  honor  on  that 
most  foul  parricide ;  nor  was  there  any  place  in  which  it  was 
more  seemly  that  his  corpse  should  be  ill-treated  than  that 
where  his  life  had  been  condemned. 

I  swear  to  you,  the  fortune  of  the  Roman  people  appeared 
to  me  hard  and  cruel,  while  it  for  so  many  years  beheld  and 
endured  that  man  triumphing  over  the  republic.  He  had  pol- 
luted the  holiest  religious  observances  with  his  debauchery; 
he  had  broken  the  most  authoritative  decrees  of  the  senate ; 
he  had  openly  bought  himself  from  the  judges  with  money; 
he  had  harassed  the  senate  in  his  tribuneship ;  he  had  re- 
scinded acts  which  had  been  passed  for  the  sake  of  the  safety 
of  the  republic,  by  the  consent  of  all  orders  of  the  state ;  he 
had  driven  me  from  my  country ;  he  had  plundered  my  prop- 
erty ;  he  had  burnt  my  house ;  he  had  ill-treated  my  children 
and  my  wife  ;  he  had  declared  a  wicked  war  against  Cnseus 
Pompeius;   he  had  made  slaughter  of  magistrates  and  pri- 


212  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

vate  individuals ;  he  had  burnt  the  house  of  my  brother ;  he 
had  laid  waste  Etruria ;  he  had  driven  numbers  of  men  from 
their  homes  and  their  professions.  He  kept  pursuing  and  op- 
pressing men  ;  the  whole  state,  all  Italy,  all  the  provinces,  all 
foreign  kingdoms  could  not  contain  his  frenzy.  Laws  were 
already  being  drawn  up  in  his  house  which  were  to  hand  us 
over  to  the  power  of  our  slaves.  There  was  nothing  belong- 
ing to  any  one,  which  he  had  taken  a  fancy  to,  which  he  did 
not  think  would  become  his  in  the  course  of  this  year.  No 
one  was  an  obstacle  to  his  expectations  except  Milo  ;  the  very 
man  who  was  most  able  to  be  an  obstacle  to  them  he  thought 
when  he  returned  again  would  be  reconciled  and,  as  it  were, 
bound  to  him.  The  power  of  Caesar,  he  said,  was  all  his  own. 
The  inclinations  of  all  good  men  he  had  treated  with  con- 
tempt, while  accomplishing  my  ruin.  Milo  alone  weighed  on 
his  mind. 

XXXIII.  On  this  the  immortal  gods,  as  I  have  said  be- 
fore, put  into  the  head  of  that  abandoned  and  frantic  man  the 
idea  of  laying  an  ambush  for  Milo.  That  pest  was  not  to  per- 
ish any  other  way ;  the  republic  would  never  have  chastened 
him  by  her  laws.  The  senate,  I  suppose,  would  have  been 
able  to  restrain  him  when  praetor.  Why,  it  had  not  been 
able  to  do  any  thing  when  it  tried  to  restrain  him  while  a 
private  individual.  Would  the  consuls  have  been  vigorous  in 
bridling  a  praetor  ?  In  the  first  place,  if  Milo  had  been  slain, 
he  would  have  had  his  own  consuls.  Secondly,  what  consul 
would  have  behaved  fearlessly  against  him  as  praetor,  who  re- 
membered that  he,  when  tribune,  had  offered  the  most  cruel 
injuries  to  the  virtue  of  the  consuls'?  He  would  have  op- 
pressed every  thing  ;  he  would  have  taken  possession  and  held 
possession  of  every  thing.  By  a  new  law,  the  draft  of  whirl  1 
was  found  in  his  house,  with  the  rest  of  the  Clodian  laws,  he 
would  have  made  all  our  slaves  his  own  frccdmen.  Lastly, 
if  the  immortal  gods  had  not  inspired  him  with  such  ideas 
that  he,  an  effeminate  creature,  attempted  to  slay  a  most  gal- 
lant man,  you  would  have  no  republic  at  all  this  day.  Would 
that  man  when  praetor,  much  more  when  consul,  provided  only 
that  these  temples  and  these  walls  could  have  stood  so  long  if 
he  had  been  alive,  and  could  have  remained  till  his  consulship] 
would  he,  I  say,  if  alive,  have  done  no  harm,  when  even  after 
he  was  dead  he  burned  the  senate-house,  one  of  his  satellites, 
Sextus  Clodius,  being  the  ringleader  in   the  tumult'?     What 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  213 

more  miserable,  more  grievous,  more  bitter  sight  have  we  ever 
seen  than  that?  that  that  temple  of  sanctity,  of  honor,  of -wis- 
dom, of  the  public  council,  the  head  of  the  city,  the  altar  of 
the  allies,  the  harbor  of  all  nations,  the  abode  granted  by  the 
universal  Roman  people  to  one  of  the  orders  of  the  state, 
should  be  burnt,  profaned,  and  destroyed"?1  and  that  that 
should  be  done,  not  by  an  ignorant  mob,  although  that  would 
have  been  a  miserable  thing,  but  by  one  single  person?  who, 
if  he  dared  so  much  in  his  character  of  burner  of  a  dead  man, 
what  would  he  not  have  done  as  standard-bearer  of  a  living 
one  1  He  selected  the  senate-house,  of  all  the  places  in  the 
city,  to  throw  him  down  in,  in  order  that  when  dead  he  might 
burn  what  he  had  overturned  while  alive. 

And  are  there  men,  then,  who  complain  of  what  took  place 
in  the  Appian  road,  and  say  nothing  of  what  happened  in  the 
senate-house  %  and  who  think  that  the  forum  could  have  been 
defended  from  him  when  alive,  whose  very  corpse  the  senate- 
house  was  unable  to  resist?  Arouse  the  man  himself;  resus- 
citate him,  if  you  can,  from  the  shades  below.  Will  you  be 
able  to  check  his  violence  when  alive,  when  you  were  hardly 
able  to  support  his  fury  while  he  lies  unburied  ?  unless,  in- 
deed, you  did  support  the  sight  of  those  men  who  ran  with 
firebrands  to  the  senate-house,  with  scythes  to  the  temple  of 
Castor,  and  who  ranged  over  the  whole  forum  sword  in  hand. 
You  saw  the  Roman  people  slaughtered,  you  saw  the  assem- 
bly disturbed  by  the  drawn  swords,  while  Marcus  Coelius,  a 
♦ribune  of  the  people,  was  listened  to  in  silence,  a  man  of  the 
greatest  courage  in  the  affairs  of  state,  of  the  greatest  firmness 
in  any  cause  which  he  undertook,  wholly  devoted  to  the  serv- 
ice of  the  virtuous  part  of  the  citizens,  and  to  the  authority  of 
the  senate,  and  in  this — shall  I  say  unpopularity,  or  misfor- 
tune of  Milo's?  behaving  with  singular,  and  god-like,  and  in- 
credible good  faith. 

1  When  Clodius  was  killed,  his  slaves  fled,  aud  left  his  dead  body  in 
the  road  ;  and  it  was  brought  to  Rome  the  next  day  by  Sextus  Tedius,  a 
senator,  who  was  passing  by  and  saw  it ;  and  then  it  was  exposed  to  the 
view  of  the  populace  of  the  city.  T^e  next  day  the  mob,  headed  by  Sex- 
tus Clodius,  carried  the  body  naked,  60  as  to  show  his  wounds,  into  the 
forum,  and  placed  it  on  the  rostra ;  and  then  the  tribunes  harangued  the 
people  on  the  subject,  and  wrought  them  up  to  such  a  pitch  of  excitement, 
that,  snatching  up  the  body,  they  carried  it  into  the  senate-house,  and 
tearing  up  the  benches  and  tables,  dressed  up  a  funeral  pile  on  the  spot, 
and,  together  with  the  body,  burned  the  senate-house  itself,  with  the  Ba' 
6ilica  Porcia  which  joined  it. 


214  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

XXXIV.  But  I  have  said  enough  about  the  cause ;  and, 
perhaps,  too  much  that  was  foreign  to  the  cause.  What  re- 
mains, except  for  me  to  pray  and  entreat  you,  O  judges,  to 
show  that  mercy  to  a  most  gallant  man,  which  he  himself 
does  not  implore ;  but  which  I,  even  against  his  will,  implore 
and  demand  in  his  behalf?  Do  not,  if  amid  the  tears  of  all 
of  us  you  have  seen  no  tears  shed  by  Milo, — if  you  see  his 
countenance  always  the  same,  his  voice  and  language  steady 
and  unaltered, — do  not,  on  that  account,  be  the  less  inclined 
to  spare  him.  I  know  not  whether  he  does  not  deserve  to 
be  assisted  all  the  more  on  that  account.  In  truth,  if  in  the 
battles  of  gladiators,  and  in  the  case  of  men  of  the  very  low- 
est class  and  condition  and  fortune,  we  are  accustomed  to  dis- 
like those  who  are  timid  and  suppliant,  and  who  pray  to  be 
allowed  to  live,  and  if  we  wish  to  save  those  who  are  brave 
and  courageous,  and  who  offer  themselves  cheerfully  to  death ; 
and  if  we  feel  more  pity  for  those  men  who  do  not  ask  our 
pity,  than  for  those  who  entreat  it ;  how  much  more  ought 
we  to  nourish  those  feelings  in  the  case  of  our  bravest  citi- 
zens ?  As  for  me,  O  judges,  I  am  dispirited  and  almost  kill- 
ed by  those  expressions  of  Milo,  which  I  hear  continually,  and 
at  the  utterance  of  which  I  am  daily  present :  "  May  my  fel- 
low-citizens fare  well,"  says  he;  "may  they  fare  well.  May 
they  be  safe,  and  prosperous,  and  happy  ;  may  this  illustrious 
city,  and  my  country,  which  I  love  so  well,  long  endure,  how- 
ever it  may  treat  me ;  may  my  fellow-citizens  (since  I  may 
not  enjoy  it  with  them)  enjoy  the  republic  in  tranquillity 
without  me,  but  still  in  consequence  of  my  conduct,  I  will 
submit,  and  depart ;  if  it  can  not  be  allowed  me  to  enjoy  a 
virtuous  republic,  at  least  I  shall  be  at  a  distance  from  a  bad 
one ;  and  the  first  well  regulated  and  free  city  that  I  arrive 
at,  in  that  will  I  rest.  Oh  how  vain,"  says  he,  "  are  the  la- 
bors which  I  have  undertaken  !  Oh  how  fallacious  have  been 
my  hopes !  Oh  how  empty  all  my  thoughts !  When  as  trib- 
une of  the  people,  when  the  republic  was  oppressed,  I  had  de- 
voted myself  to  the  senate,  which,  when  1  came  into  office, 
was  utterly  extinct ;  and  to  the  Roman  knights,  whose  pow- 
er was  enfeebled,  and  to  the  virtuous  part  of  the  citizens,  who 
had  given  up  all  their  authority  under  the  arms  of  Clodius ; 
could  I  ever  have  thought  that  I  should  fail  to  find  protection 
from  the  citizens"?  When  I  had  restored  you"  (for  he  very 
frequently   converses  with  me  and  addresses  me)  "to  your 


FOR  T.  A.  MILO.  215 

country,  could  I  ever  suppose  that  I  myself  should  have  no 
place  in  my  country !  Where  now  is  the  senate  which  we 
followed?  where  are  those  Roman  knights,  those  knights," 
savs  he,  "  so  devoted'  to  you?  where  is  the  zeal  of  the  munici- 
pal towns?  where  is  the  voice  of  Italy?  what,  above  all,  has 
become  of  that  voice  of  yours,  O  Marcus  Tullius,  which  has 
been  an  assistance  to  many ;  what  has  become  of  your  voice 
and  defensive  eloquence  ?  am  I  the  only  person  whom  it  is  un- 
able to  help,  I  who  have  so  often  exposed  myself  to  death  for 
your  sake?" 

XXXY.  Nor  does  he  say  these  things  to  me,  O  judges, 
weeping,  as  I  now  repeat  them ;  but  with  the  same  unmoved 
countenance  that  you  behold.  For  he  says,  he  never  did  all 
the  things  which  he  had  done  for  citizens  who  are  ungrateful ; 
ungrateful,  he  says,  they  are  not.  That  they  are  timid,  and 
thinking  too  much  of  every  danger,  he  does  not  deny.  He 
savs,  that  he  treated  the  common  people,  and  that  multitude 
of  the  lower  class  which,  while  they  had  Publius  Clodius  for 
their  leader,  threatened  the  safety  of  all  of  you,  in  such  a  way, 
in  order  to  render  all  your  lives  more  secure  ;  that  he  not  only 
subdued  it  by  his  virtue,  but  won  it  over  at  the  expense  of 
three  estates  which  he  inherited.  Nor  has  he  any  apprehen- 
sion that,  while  he  was  conciliating  the  common  people  by  his 
liberality,  he  was  not  also  securing  your  attachment  by  his 
singular  services  to  the  republic.  He  says,  that  the  good-will 
of  the  senate  toward  him  has  been  repeatedly  experienced  by 
him  in  the  times  that  have  lately  gone  by ;  and  that  he  shall 
carry  with  him,  and  ever  retain  in  his  recollection,  the  way  in 
which  vou  and  all  vour  order  flocked  to  meet  him,  the*zeal 
you  showed  in  his  behalf,  and  the  kindness  of  your  language 
to  him,  whatever  may  be  the  destiny  Avhich  fortune  allots  to 
him.  He  remembers,  also,  that  the  voice  of  the  crier,  pro- 
claiming .his  triumph,  was  the  only  thing  wanting  to  him; 
but  that  he  was  declared  consul  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
people,  arid  that  was  the  great  object  of  his  ambition.  And 
now  if  all  these  things  are  to  go  against  him,  it  will  be  only 
the  suspicion  of  guilt,  not  the  reality  of  any  crime  ^jhich  has 
injured  him.  He  adds  this,  which  is  unquestionably  true ; 
that  brave  and  wise  men  are  not  in  the  habit  of  setting  their 
hearts  so  much  on  the  rewards  for  virtuous  conduct,  as  on  the 
fact  of  their  conduct  being  so  ;  that  he  has  never  acted  through- 
out his  life  in  any  but  the  most  honorable  manner,  since  there 


216  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

can  be  nothing  better  for  a  man  to  do  than  to  deliver  his  coun- 
try from  dangers ;  that  those  men  are  happy  for  whom  such 
conduct  procures  honor  among  their  fellow-citizens,  but  yet, 
that  those  men  are  not  miserable  who  have  exceeded  their  fel- 
low-citizens in  good  deeds.  Moreover,  that  of  all  the  rewards 
of  virtue,  if  one  is  to  make  an  estimate  of  the  different  re- 
wards, the  most  honorable  of  all  is  glory  ;  that  this  is  the  only 
reward  which  can  make  amends  for  the  shortness  of  life,  by 
the  recollection  of  posterity  ;  which  can  cause  us  while  absent 
to  be  present,  when  dead  to  be  still  alive  ;  that  this  is  the  thing 
by  the  steps  of  which  men  appear  to  mount  even  to  heaven. 

"  Concerning  me,"  says  he,  "  the  Roman  people  and  all 
nations  will  be  continually  talking.  The  remotest  ages  will 
never  be  silent  about  me.  Even  at  this  very  time  when  the 
firebrands  of  envy  are  being  hurled  against  me  by  my  enemies, 
still  I  am  celebrated  in  every  company  of  men,  who  express 
their  thanks  to  me,  who  congratulate  themselves  on  my  con- 
duct, who  make  me  the  sole  topic  of  their  conversation.  I  say 
nothing  of  the  days  of  festival,  and  sacrifice,  and  joyful  cele- 
bration in  Etruria.  This  is  the  hundredth,  or  I  rather  think 
the  hundred  and  first  day  since  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius ; 
a  day  on  which,  wherever- the  boundaries  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire extend,  there  did  not  only  the  report  of,  but  the  joy 
caused  by  that  occurrence  penetrate.  Wherefore,"  said  he,  "  I 
am  not  anxious  as  to  where  this  body  of  mine  may  be ;  since 
the  glory  of  my  name  already  is  and  always  will  be  in  every 
country  upon  earth." 

XXXVI.  This  is  what  you  have  constantly  said  to  me,  O 
Milo,  when  these  men  who  hear  me  now  have  been  absent ; 
but  this  is  what  I  say  to  you  when  they  are  present  to  listen. 
I  can  not,  indeed,  praise  you  sufficiently  for  being  of  such  a 
spirit  as  you  are;  but  the  more  godlike  that  virtue  of  yours 
is,  the  greater  is  the  pain  which  I  feel  at  being  separated  from 
you.  Nor,  indeed,  if  you  are  taken  from  me,  will  the  com- 
plaints, which  are  all  that  is  left  to  me,  do  any  thing  to  com- 
fort me,  or  to  prevent  my  being  angry  with  those  men  from 
whom  I  have  received  so  severe  a  blow.  For  it  is  not  my 
enemies  who  will  tear  you  from  me,  but  those  who  are  my 
greatest  friends.  It  is  not  men  who  have  at  times  deserved 
ill  at  my  hands,  but  those  who  have  always  deserved  exceed- 
ingly well.  You  never,  O  judges,  will  inflict  such  grief  upon 
me  (although,  what  grief  can  be  so  great  as  this?),  but  you 


xOR  T.  A.    MILO.  *217 

will  never  inflict  this  particular  grief  upon  me,  of  forcing  me 
to  forget  how  greatly  you  have  always  regarded  me.  And  if 
you,  yourselves,  have  forgotten  it,  or  if  any  part  of  my  con- 
duct has  offended  you,  why  do  you  not  make  me  atone  for  that 
offense  rather  than  Milo  1  For  I  shall  have  lived  gloriously 
enough  if  I  die  before  seeing  any  such  great  misfortune  happen 

to  him. 

At  present  one  consolation  supports  me,  that  no  exertion 
that  affection,  or  that  zeal,  or  that  gratitude  could  possibly 
make  has  been  wanting  on  my  part  to  promote  your  interest, 
O  Titus  Annius.  For  your  sake  I  have  courted  the  enmity 
of  powerful  citizens ;  I  have  repeatedly  exposed  my  person 
and  my  life  to  the  weapons  of  your  enemies ;  I  have  thrown 
myself  as  a  suppliant  at  the  feet  of  many  for  your  sake ;  I 
have  considered  my  fortunes  and  those  of  my  children  as 
united  with  yours  in  the  time  of  your  necessities.  Lastly,  on 
this  very  day,  if  any  violence  is  prepared  against  you,  or  any 
struo-ale,  or  any  danger  of  death,  I  claim  my  share  in  that. 

CO       *  JO  it  "IT 

What  remains  now?  What  is  there  that  I  can  say,  or  that  1 
can  do  in  return  for  your  services  to  me,  except  considering 
whatever  fortune  is  yours  mine  also  1  I  do  not  object,  I  do  not 
refuse  so  to  consider  it.  And  I  entreat  you,  O  judges,  either 
to  add  to  the  kindnesses  which  you  have  already  conferred  on 
me.  by  granting  me  this  man's  safety,  or  else  to  take  notice 
that  they  will  all  perish  in  his  fall. 

XXXVII.  These  tears  of  mine  have  no  effect  on  Milo. 
He  is  of  an  incredible  strength  of  mind.  He  thinks  that  any 
place  where  there  is  no  room  for  virtue  is  a  place  of  banish- 
ment ;  and  death  he  considers  the  end  appointed  by  nature, 
and  not  a  punishment.  Let  him  continue  to  cherish  these 
ideas  in  which  he  was  born.  What  will  you  think  yourselves, 
O  judges?  What  will  be  your  feelings?  Will  you  preserve 
the  recollection  of  Milo,  and  drive  away  the  man  himself? 
And  will  you  allow  any  place  in  the  whole  earth  to  be  more 
worthy  to  receive  this  virtue  of  his  than  this  place 'which 
produced  him?  You,  you,  I  appeal  to  you,  O  you  brave 
men,  who  have  shed  much  of  your  blood  for  the  sake  of  the 
republic.  I  appeal  to  you,  O  centurions,  and  to  you,  O  sol- 
diers, in  this  time  of  danger  to  a  brave  man  and  an  invincible 
citizen.  While  you  are  not  only  looking  on,  but  armed,  and 
standing  as  guards  around  this  court  of  justice,  shall  this  mighty 
virtue  be  driven  from  the  city,  be  banished,  be  cast  out? 

K 


218  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Oh,  miserable  man  that  I  am !  Oh,  unhappy  man  that  I 
am !  Were  you,  O  Milo,  able  through  the  instrumentality  of 
these  men  to  recall  me  to  my  country,  and  can  not  I  through 
the  agency  of  the  very  same  men  even  retain  you  in  yours  ? 
What  answer  shall  I  make  to  my  children,  who  consider  you 
a  second  father?  What  answer  shall  I  make  to  you,  O  my 
brother  Quintus,  you  who  are  now  absent,  you  who  were  my 
companion  in  that  cruel  time?  Shall  I  reply,  that  I  was 
unable  to  preserve  the  safety  of  Milo  by  the  instrumentality 
of  those  very  men  by  whose  means  he  had  preserved  mine  ? 
And  what  is  the  cause  in  which  I  shall  have  failed  to  do  so  ? 
One  which  is  sanctioned  by  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
From  whom  must  I  say  that  I  failed  to  procure  it  ?  From 
those  very  men  who  of  all  others  have  gained  the  greatest 
tranquillity  by  the  death  of  Publius  Clodius.  And  who  will 
it  be  who  has  entreated  in  vain?  I.  What  great  wickedness 
is  it  that  I  planned,  what  enormous  crime  did  I  commit,  O 
judges,  when  I  traced  out,  and  laid  open,  and  revealed,  and 
forever  crushed  those  beginnings  and  signs  of  the  general 
destruction  that  was  intended?  For  that  is  the  spring  from 
which  all  the  distresses  of  myself  and  my  friends  arise.  Why 
did  you  wish  me  to  return  to  my  country?  Was  it  in  order 
that  I  might  look  on  while  those  men  were  being  driven  out, 
by  whose  efforts  I  had  been  restored  ?  Do  not,  I  entreat  you, 
suffer  my  return  to  be  more  miserable  than  even  my  departure 
was.  For  how  can  I  think  that  I  have  been  restored  if  I  am 
torn  from  those  men  by  whom  I  was  restored  ? 

XXXVIII.  Would  that  the  immortal  gods  had  granted  (I 
must  entreat  your  permission  to  say  it,  O  my  country,  for  I 
fear  lest  it  should  be  a  wicked  wish  as  far  as  you  are  con- 
cerned, though  it  may  be  a  pious  one  for  Milo), — would  that 
they  had  granted  that  Publius  Clodius  should  not  only  be 
alive,  but  should  even  be  praetor,  consul,  dictator,  rather  than 
I  should  see  this  sight !  O  ye  immortal  gods,  before  I  should 
see  this  brave  man,  this  man  wrho  deserves  to  be  saved  by  you, 
O  judges,  in  this  plight!  "Say  not  so,  say  not  so,"  says 
Milo.  "Rather  let  him  have  suffered  the  penalty  which  he 
deserved,  and  let  us,  if  so  it  must  be,  suffer  what  we  have  not 
deserved." 

Shall  this  man,  born  for  his  country,  die  in  any  other  land 
except  his  country  ?  or,  as  it  may  perchance  turn  out,  for  his 
country?     Will  you  preserve  the  monuments  of  this  man's 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  219 

courage,  and  yet  allow  no  sepulchre  containing  his  body  to 
exist  in  Italy"?  Will  any  one  by  his  vote  banish  this  man 
from  this  city,  when  all  other  cities  will  gladly  invite  him  to 
them  if  he  is  driven  out  from  among  you  ?  O  happy  will  that 
land  be  which  shall  receive  him !  Ungrateful  will  this  land 
be  if  it  banishes  him ;  miserable  if  it  loses  him. 

However,  I  must  make  an  end.  Nor,  indeed,  can  I  speak 
any  longer  for  weeping ;  and  this  man  forbids  me  to  defend 
him  by  tears.  I  pray  and  entreat  you,  O  judges,  when  you 
are  giving  your  votes,  to  dare  to  decide  as  you  think  just. 
And  believe  me  that  man1  will  be  sure  greatly  to  approve  of 
your  virtue,  and  justice,  and  good  faith  ;  who,  in  selecting 
the  judges,  selected  all  the  best,  and  wisest,  and  most  fearless 
men  whom  he  could  find.2 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE  OF  CAIUS  RA. 

BIRIUS  POSTUMUS 


THE  ARGUMENT. 


When  Gabinius,  the  colleague  of  Piso,  returned  from  his  province  of  Syr- 
ia, he  was  prosecuted  on  two  indictments  ;  in  the  first  prosecution 
Cicero  appeared  as  a  witness  against  him  ;  but  he  was  acquitted,  as 
Cicero  says  in  his  letters  to  his  brother  Quintus  (iii.  4),  in  consequence 
of  the  stupidity  of  Lentulus,  the  prosecutor,  and  the  great  exertion  of 
Pompey,  and  the  corruption  of  the  judges.  In  the  second  prosecution 
Cicero  wTas  prevailed  on  by  Pompey  to  defend  him  ;  but  he  was  con- 
demned to  perpetual  banishment. 

The  trial  of  Caius  Rabirius  Postumus,  a  Roman  knight,  arose  out  of  that 
trial  of  Gabinius.  It  had  been  one  of  the  articles  against  him,  that  he 
had  received  an  enormous  sum  for  restoring  Ptolemy  to  his  kingdom 
of  Egypt ;  but  when  he  was  convicted,  his  estate  was  found  inadequate 

1  Cnaeus  Pompeius. 

3  Milo,  as  has  been  said  before,  was  convicted  by  a  majority  of  thirty- 
eight  to  thirteen,  though  Cato  voted  openly  for  his  acquittal.  He  went 
into  exile  to  Marseilles.  Some  years  afterward,  a.u.c  706,  Coelius,  when 
prsetor,  recalled  him  from  banishment,  and  endeavored  to  raise  some  pub- 
lic commotion  in  favor  of  Pompey,  between  whom  and  Caesar  (who  was 
in  his  second  consulship)  the  civil  war  was  just  breaking  out.  But  he 
and  Coelius  were  both  killed  by  the  soldiers  with  whom  they  were  tam- 
pering. 


220  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

to  meet  the  damages  which  he  was  condemned  to  pay,  and  the  defi- 
ciency was  now  demanded  from  those  through  whose  hands  the  man- 
agement of  his  money  affairs  had  passed,  and  who  were  supposed  to 
have  been  sharers  in  the  spoil ;  and  of  these  men  the  chief  was  Ra- 
birius,  who  was  now  accused  of  having  advised  Gabinius  to  undertake 
Ptolemy's  restoration  ;  of  having  accompanied  him  ;  of  having  been 
employed  by  him  to  solicit  the  payment  of  the  money,  and  of  having 
lived  at  Alexandria  for  that  purpose  in  the  king's  service  as  the  public 
receiver  of  the  king's  taxes,  and  wearing  the  dress  of  an  Egyptian. 
The  prosecution  was  instituted  under  the  provisions  of  the  Lex  Julia, 
concerning  extortion  and  peculation.  It  was  conducted  by  Caius  Mem- 
mius  Gemellus.  Rabirius  was  acquitted  ;  and,  though  it  was  to  please 
Pompey  that  Cicero  had  undertaken  his  defense,  he  afterward  attached 
himself  to  Caesar,  and  was  employed  by  him  in  the  war  in  Africa  and 
in  Sicily. 

I.  If  there  is  any  one,  O  judges,  who  thinks  Caius  Rabirius 
to  be  blamed  for  having  intrusted  his  securely  founded  and 
well-established  fortunes  to  the  power  and  caprice  of  a  sover- 
eign, he  may  back  his  opinion  by  a  reference  not  only  to  mine, 
but  also  to  the  feelings  of  the  man  himself  who  did  so.  For 
there  is  no  one  who  is  more  grieved  at  the  line  of  conduct 
which  he  then  adopted  than  he  is  himself.  Although  we  are 
very  much  in  the  habit  of  judging  of  the  wisdom  of  a  plan 
by  the  result,  and  of  saying  that  the  man  whose  designs  have 
succeeded  has  shown  a  great  deal  of  foresight,  and  that  he  who 
has  failed  has  shown  none  at  all.  If  the  king  had  had  any 
honesty,  nothing  would  have  been  considered  more  sagacious 
than  the  conduct  of  Postumus  ;  but  because  the  king  deceived 
him  he  is  said  to  have  acted  as  madly  as  possible ;  so  that  it 
appears  now  that  nothing  is  a  proof  of  a  man  being  wise,  un- 
less he  can  foresee  the  future. 

But  still,  if  there  be  any  one  who  thinks  that  Postumus's 
conduct,  whether  it  proceeded  from  a  vain  hope,  or  from  a 
not  sufficiently  considered  calculation,  or  (to  use  the  strongest 
possible  terms)  from  pure  rashness,  deserves  to  be  blamed,  I 
will  not  object  to  his  entertaining  that  opinion.  But  I  do 
beg  this,  that  as  he  sees  that  his  designs  have  been  punished 
with  the  greatest  cruelty  by  fortune  herself,  he  will  not  think 
it  necessary  to  add  any  additional  bitterness  to  the  ruin  with 
which  he  is  already  overwhelmed.  It  is  quite  enough  not  to 
help  to  set  men  up  again  who  have  fallen  through  imprudence ; 
but  to  press  down  those  already  fallen,  or  to  increase  their  im- 
petus when  falling,  is  unquestionably  most  barbarous.  Espe- 
cially, O  judges,  when  this  principle  is  almost  implanted  by 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  221 

nature  in  the  race  of  man,  that  those  men  who  are  of  a  family 
which  considerable  glory  has  already  distinguished,  should  with 
the  greatest  eagerness  pursue  the  same  path  as  their  ancestors, 
seeing  that  the  virtue  of  their  lathers  is  celebrated  in  the 
recollection  and  conversation  of  all  men  ;  just  as  not  only  did 
Scipio  imitate  Paullus  in  his  renown  gained  by  military  ex- 
ploits;  not  only  did  his  son  imitate  Maximus;  but  his  own 
son  also  imitated  Decius  in  the  devotion  of  his  life,  and  the 
exact  manner  of  his  death.  Let  small  things,  O  judges,  be 
compared  in  this  way  to  great  things. 

II.  For,  when  we  were  children,  this  man's  father,  Cains 
Curius,  was  a  most  gallant  chief  of  the  equestrian  order,  and 
a  most  extensive  farmer  of  the  public  revenues,  a  man  whose 
greatness  of  spirit  as  displayed  in  carrying  on  his  business  men 
would  not  have  so  greatly  esteemed,  if  an  incredible  kindness 
had  not  also  distinguished  him  ;  so  that  while  increasing  his 
property,  he  seemed  not  so  much  to  be  seeking  to  gratify  his 
avarice,  as  to  procure  additional  means  for  exerting  his  kind- 
ness. My  client,  being  this  man's  son,  although  he  had  never 
seen  his  father,  still  under  the  guidance  of  nature  herself, — - 
who  is  a  very  powerful  guide, — and  instigated  by  the  continual 
conversation  of  every  one  in  his  family,  was  naturally  led  on 
to  adopt  a  similar  line  of  conduct  to  that  of  his  father.  He 
encased  in  extensive  business.  He  entered  into  manv  con- 
tracts.  He  took  a  great  share  of  the  public  revenues.  He 
trusted  different  nations.  His  transactions  spread  over  many 
provinces.  He  devoted  himself  also  to  the  service  of  kings. 
He  had  already  previously  lent  a  large  sum  of  money  to  this 
very  king  of  Alexandria ;  and  in  the  mean  time  he  never 
ceased  enriching  his  friends;  sending  them  on  commissions j 
giving  them  a  share  in  his  contracts ;  increasing  their  estatesT 
or  supporting  them  with  his  credit.  Why  need  I  say  more  *? 
He  gave  a  faithful  representation  of  his  father's  career  and 
habits  of  life  in  his  own  magnanimity  and  liberality. 

In  the  mean  time,  Ptolemoeus  being  expelled  from  his  king' 
dom  with  treachery,  with  evil  designs  (as  the  Sibyl  said,  an 
expression  of  which  Postumus  found  out  the  meaning)  came 
to  Rome.  This  unhappy  man  lent  him  money,  as  he  was  in 
want  and  asked  for  it ;  and  that  was  not  the  first  time  (for  he 
had  lent  him  money  before  while  he  was  king,  without  seeing 
him).  And  he  thought  that  he  was  not  lending  his  money 
rashly,  because  no  one  doubted  that  he  would  be  restored  to 


222  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

his  kingdom  by  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome.  But  he  went 
still  farther  in  making  him  presents  and  loans.  And  he  lent 
him  not  his  own  money  only,  but  also  that  of  his  friends.  A 
very  foolish  thing  to  do — who  denies  it?  at  all  events,  who  is 
there  who  does  not  now  remind  him  of  it  ?  How  could  one 
think  that  a  sensible  proceeding  which  has  turned  out  ill  ? 
But  it  is  difficult  not  to  cany  out  to  the  end  a  line  of  conduct 
which  one  has  begun  with  sanguine  hopes. 

III.  The  king  was  a  suppliant  to  him.  He  asked  him  every 
sort  of  favor  ;  he  promised  him  every  sort  of  recompense.  JSo 
that  Postumus  was  at  last  compelled  to  fear  that  he  might  lose 
what  he  had  already  lent,  if  he  put  a  stop  to  his  loans.  But 
no  one  could  possibly  be  more  affable,  no  one  could  be  more 
kind  than  the  king ;  so  that  it  was  easier  to  repent  having  be- 
gun to  lend  than  to  find  out  how  to  stop. 

Here  first  rises  a  charge  against  my  client.  They  say  that 
the  senate  was  bribed.  O  ye  immortal  gods !  is  this  that  much- 
desired  impartiality  of  the  courts  of  justice?  Those  who  have 
bribed  us  are  put  on  their  trial,  we  who  have  been  bribed  are 
exposed  to  no  such  dangers.  What,  then,  shall  I  do  ?  Shall 
I  here  defend  the  senate,  O  judges?  I  ought,  indeed,  to  do  so 
here  and  every  where,  so  well  has  that  body  deserved  at  my 
hands.  But  that  is  not  the  question  at  the  present  moment ; 
nor  is  that  affair  in  the  least  connected  with  the  cause  of  Pos- 
tumus. Although  money  was  supplied  by  Postumus  for  the 
expense  of  his  journey,  and  for  the  splendor  of  his  appoint- 
ments, and  for  the  royal  retinue,  and  though  contracts  were 
drawn  up  in  the  Alban  villa  of  Cnasus  Pompeius  when  he 
left  Pome ;  still  he  who  supplied  the  money  had  no  right  to 
ask  on  what  he  who  received  the  money  was  spending  it.  For 
he  was  lending  it  not  to  a  robber,  but  to  a  king ;  nor  to  a 
king  who  was  an  enemy  of  the  Roman  people,  but  to  him 
whose  return  to  his  kingdom  he  saw  was  granted  to  him  by 
the  senate,  and  intrusted  to  the  consul  to  provide  for ;  nor 
to  a  king  who  was  a  stranger  to  this  empire,  but  to  one  with 
whom  he  had  seen  a  treaty  made  in  the  Capitol. 

But  if  the  man  who  lends  money  is  to  blame,  and  not  the 
man  who  has  made  a  scandalous  use  of  the  money  which  has 
been  lent  to  him,  then  let  that  man  be  condemned  who  has 
made  a  sword  and  sold  it,  and  not  the  man  who  with  that 
sword  has  slain  a  citizen.  Wherefore,  neither  you,  O  Caius 
Mem  mi  us,  ought  to  wish  the  senate,  to  support  the  authority 


FOK  C    R.  POSTUMUS.  223 

of  which  you  have  devoted  yourself  from  your  youth  upward, 
to  labor  under  such  disrepute,  nor  ought  I  to  speak  in  defense 
of  conduct  which  is  not  the  subject  of  the  present  inquiry. 
For  the  cause  of  Postumus,  whatever  it  is,  is  at  all  events  un- 
connected with  the  cause  of  the  senate.  And  if  I  show  that 
it  has  no  connection  with  Gabinius  either,  then  certainly  you 
will  have  not  a  leg  to  stand  upon. 

IV.  For  this  cause  is  an  inquiry,  "  What  has  become  of  the 
money  V  a  sort  of  appendix  as  it  were  to  an  action  which  has 
been  already  decided,  and  in  which  a  man  has  been  convicted. 
An  action  was  brought  successfully  against  Aulus  Gabinius, 
and  he  was  condemned  in  damages ;  but  no  securities  were 
given  for  the  payment  of  them,  nor  did  the  people  get  out  of 
his  property  a  sum  sufficient  for  the  payment  of  those  dam- 
ages. The  law  is  impartial.  The  Julian  law  orders  that 
what  is  deficient  should  be  required  of  those  into  whose  hands 
the  money,  which  the  man  who  has  been  convicted  received, 
came.  If  this  is  a  new  provision  in  the  Julian  law, — as  there 
are  many  clauses  of  a  severer  and  stricter  tendency  than  those 
which  are  found  in  the  ancient  laws, — let  us  also  have  this 
new  description  of  tribunal  before  which  to  prosecute  the  in- 
quiry. But  if  this  clause  is  transferred  word  for  word  not 
only  from  the  Cornelian  law  but  from  the  Servilian  law, 
which  is  elder  still ;  then,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods, 
what  is  it  that  we  are  doing,  O  judges?  Or  what  is  this  new 
principle  of  new  legal  proceedings  that  we  are  introducing 
into  the  republic  ?  For  the  ancient  mode  of  proceeding  was 
well  known  to  all  of  you,  and  if  practice  is  the  best  of  teach- 
ers it  ought  to  be  known  to  me  above  all  men.  For  I  have 
prosecuted  men  for  extortion  and  peculation ;  I  have  sat  as 
judge;  I  have  conducted  inquiries  as  praetor;  I  have  defend- 
ed many  men  ;  there  is  no  step  in  such  proceedings  which  can 
give  a  man  any  facility  in  speaking  in  which  I  have  not  taken 
a  part. 

This  is  what  I  assert: — that  no  one  ever  was  put  on  his 
trial  on  the  formula,  "What  had  become  of  that  money," 
who  had  not  been  summoned  as  a  witness  on  the  action  for 
damages.  But  in  the  action  in  this  instance,  no  one  was  sum- 
moned except  in  consequence  of  something  said  by  witnesses, 
or  something  which  appeared  in  the  accounts  of  private  in- 
dividuals, or  in  the  accounts  of  the  cities.  Therefore,  when 
actions  were  being  brought,  those  men  were  usually  present 


224  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

who  had  some  apprehension  about  themselves ;  and  then  when 
they  were  summoned,  then,  if  they  thought  it  advantageous 
for  them,  they  proceeded  at  once  to  contradict  what  had  been 
said.  But  if  they  were  afraid  of  unpopularity,  because  the 
facts  in  question  were  recent,  they  answered  at  some  future 
time ;  and  when  they  had  done  this,  many  of  them  gained 
their  object. 

,  V.  But  this  is  quite  a  novel  way  of  managing  business,  and 
(pne  utterly  unheard  of  before  this  time.  In  the  previous  ac- 
tion Postumus's  name  never  once  occurs.  In  the  action,  do  I 
say?  You  yourselves,  O  judges,  lately  sat  as  judges  on  Aulus 
Gabinius.  Did  any  one  witness  then  mention  Posturuus  ?  Any 
witness?  did  ever  the  prosecutor  name  him?  Did  you,  in 
short,  in  the  whole  of  that  trial  once  hear  the  name  of  Pos- 
tumus? 

Postumus,  then,  is  not  an  additional  criminal  implicated 
in  the  cause  which  has  been  already  decided.  But  still  one 
Roman  knigbt  has  been  dragged  before  the  court  as  a  defend- 
ant, on  a  charge  of  extortion  and  peculation.  On  what  ac- 
count-books is  this  charge  founded?  On  some  which  were 
not  read  on  the  trial  of  Aulus  Gabinius.  By  what  witness  is 
it  supported?  By  some  one  who  never  once  mentioned  his 
name  at  that  time.  On  the  sentence  of  what  arbitrator  do 
they  rely?  On  one  in  which  no  mention  whatever  was  made 
of  Postumus.  In  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  what  law  ? 
Of  one  under  which  he  is  not  liable. 

Here  now,  O  judges,  the  affair  is  one  which  has  need  of  all 
your  acuteness  and  of  all  your  good  sense.  For  you  ought  to 
consider  what  it  is  becoming  to  you  to  do,  and  not  what  is 
lawful  for  you.  For  if  you  ask  what  is  lawful,  you  certainly 
have  the  power  to  remove  any  one  whom  you  please  out  of  the 
city.  It  is  the  voting  tablet  which  gives  you  that  power; 
and  at  the  same  time  it  conceals  the  capricious  exercise  of  it. 
]So  one  has  any  need  to  fear  the  consciousness  of  the  tablet, 
if  he  has  no  reverence  for  bis  own  conscience.  Where,  then, 
is  the  wisdom  of  the  judge  shown?  In  this,  that  he  considers 
not  only  what  he  has  the  power  to  do,  but  also  what  he  ought 
to  do ;  and  he  does  not  recollect  only  what  power  has  been 
committed  to  him,  but  also  to  what  extent  it  lias  been  com- 
mitted. You  have  a  tablet  given  you  on  which  to  record  your 
judgment.  According  to  what  law  I  To  the  Julian  law 
about  extortion  and  peculation.     Concerning  what  defendant  ? 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  225 

Concerning  a  Roman  knight.  But  that  body  is  not  liable  to 
the  operation  of  that  law.  ******** 
But  now  I  hear  what  you  say.  Postumus,  then,  is  prosecuted 
under  that  law,  from  the  operation  of  which  not  only  he,  but 
his  whole  order,  is  released  and  wholly  free. 

VI.  Here  I  will  not  at  present  implore  your  aid,  O  Eoman  ) 
knights, — you  whose  privileges  are  attacked  by  this  prosecu- 
tion,— before  I  implore  you,  O  senators,  whose  good  faith  to- 
ward this  order  of  knights  is  at  stake  ;  that  good  faith  which 
has  been  often  experienced  before,  and  which  has  been  lately 
proved  in  this  very  cause.  For  when — when  that  most  vir- 
tuous and  admirable  consul  Cnaeus  Pompeius  made  a  motion 
with  respect  to  this  very  inquiry — some,  but  very  few,  unfa- 
vorable opinions  were  delivered,  which  voted  that  prefects, 
and  scribes,  and  all  the  retinue  of  magistrates  were  liable  to 
the  provisions  of  this  law,  you — you  yourselves,  I  say — and 
the  senate,  in  a  very  full  house,  resisted  this ;  and  although  at 
that  time,  on  account  of  the  offenses  commited  by  many  men, 
people's  minds  were  inflamed  so  that  even  innocent  people 
were  in  danger,  still,  though  you  could  not  wholly  extinguish 
its  unpopularity,  at  all  events  you  would  not  allow  fuel  to  be 
added  to  the  existing  fire. 

In  this  spirit  did  the  senate  act.  What  next?  What  are  '* 
you,  O  Eoman  knights,  what  are  you  about  to  do,  I  pray? 
Grlaucia,  a  profligate  but  still  a  shrewd  man,  was  in  the  habit 
of  warning  the  people  when  any  law  was  being  read  to  attend 
to  the  first  line  of  it.  If  the  first  word  was  "  dictator,  consul, 
prastor,  master  of  the  horse,"  then  not  to  trouble  themselves 
about  it ;  they  might  know  that  it  was  no  concern  of  theirs. 
But  if  it  began  "  Whoever  after  the  passing  of  this  law,"  then 
they  had  better  take  care  that  they  were  not  made  liable  to 
any  new  judicial  proceedings. 

Now  do  you,  O  Eoman  knights,  take  care.  You  know  that 
I  wras  born  of  your  order  ;  that  all  my  feelings  have  always 
been  enlisted  in  your  cause.  I  say  nothing  of  what  I  am  now 
saying  but  with  the  deepest  anxiety  and  the  greatest  regard 
for  vour  order.  Other  men  may  be  attached  to  other  men  and 
to  other  orders  ;  I  have  always  been  devoted  to  you.  I  warn 
you,  I  forewarn  you  ;  I  give  you  notice  while  the  affair  and  the 
cause  are  still  undecided ;  I  call  all  men  and  gods  to  witness. 
While  you  have  it  in  your  power,  while  it  is  lawful  for  you, 
beware  lest  you  establish  for  yourselves  and  for  your  order  a 

K2 


22G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

harder  condition  than  you  may  be  able  to  bear.     This  evil 
(believe  me)  will  crawl  on  and  extend  further  than  you  fancy. 

VII.  When  a  most  powerful  and  noble  tribune  of  the  peo- 
ple, Marcus  Drusus,  proposed  one  folrmua  of  inquiry  affecting 
the  equestrian  order, — k'  If  any  one  had  taken  money  on  ac- 
count of  a  judicial  decision," — the  Roman  knights  openly  re- 
gisted  it.  Why  ?  Did  they  wish  to  be  allowed  to  act  in  such 
a  manner!  Far  from  it.  They  thought  this  cause  of  receiv- 
ing money  not  only  shameful,  but  actually  impious.  But  they 
argued  in  this  way :  that  those  men  only  ought  to  be  made 
liable  to  the  operation  of  any  law,  who  of  their  own  judgment 
submitted  to  such  conditions  of  life.  "  The  highest  rank,"  say 
they,  "in  the  state  is  a  great  pleasure;  and  the  curule  chair, 
and  the  fasces,  and  supreme  command,  and  a  province,  and 
priesthoods,  and  triumphs,  and  even  the  fact  of  having  an  im- 
age to  keep  alive  the  recollection  of  one  with  posterity.  There 
is  also  some  anxiety  mingled  with  this  pleasure,  and  a  greater 
apprehension  of  laws  and  of  trials.  We  have  never  despised 
those  considerations"  (for  so  they  argued) ;  "  but  we  have 
adopted  this  tranquil  and  easy  kind  of  life,  which,  because  it 
does  not  bring  honors  with  it,  is  also  free  from  annoyance." 
"You  are  just  as  much  a  judge  as  I  am  a  senator."  "Just 
so,  but  you  sought  for  the  one  honor,  and  I  am  compelled  to 
accept  of  the  other ;  wherefore,  it  ought  to  be  lawful  for  me 
either  to  decline  being  a  judge,  or  else  I  ought  not  to  be  sub- 
ject to  any  new  law  which  ought  properly  to  regulate  only  the 
conduct  of  senators."  Will  you,  O  Roman  knights,  abandon 
this  privilege  which  you  have  received  from  your  fathers?  I 
warn  you  not  to  do  so.  Men  will  be  hurried  before  these 
courts  of  justice,  not  only  whenever  they  fall  into  all  deserved 
unpopularity,  but  whenever  spiteful  people  say  a  word  against 
them,  if  you  do  not  take  care  to  prevent  it.  If  it  were  now 
told  you  that  opinions  were  pronounced  in  the  senate  that  you 
should  be  liable  to  be  proceeded  against  under  these  laws,  you 
would  think  it  necessary  to  run  in  crowds  to  the  senate-house. 
If  the  law  was  passed,  you  would  throng  to  the  rostra.  The 
senate  has  decided  that  you  are  exempt  from  the  operation  of 
this  law ;  the  people  has  never  subjected  you  to  it  ;  you  have 
met  together  here  free  from  it ;  take  care  that  you  do  not  de- 
part entangled  in  its  toils. 

For  if  it  was  imputed  as  a  crime  to  Postumus,  who  was 
neither  a  tribune,  nor  a  prefect,  nor  one  of  his  companions 


FOR  C.  11.  POSTUMUS.  227 

from  Italy,  nor  even  a  friend  of  Gabinius's,  how  will  these  men 
hereafter  defend  themselves,  who,  being  of  your  order,  have 
been  implicated  with  our  magistrates  in  these  causes  ? 

VIII.  "You,"  says  the  prosecutor,  "instigated  to  Gabinius 
to  restore  the  king."  My  own  good  faith  does  not  allow  me 
to  speak  with  severity  of  Gabinius.  For  after  having  been 
reconciled  to  him,  and  given  up  that  most  bitter  hostility 
with  which  I  regarded  him,  and  after  having  defended  him 
with  the  greatest  zeal,  I  ought  not  to  attack  him  now  that  he 
is  in  distress.  And  even  if  the  influence  of  Cnaeus  Pompeius 
had  not  reconciled  me  to  him  while  he  was  in  prosperity,  his 
own  disasters  would  do  so  now.  But  still,  when  you  say  that 
Gabinius  went  to  Alexandria  at  the  instigation  of  Postumus, 
if  you  place  no  confidence  in  what  was  alleged  in  the  defense 
of  Gabinius,  do  you  forget  also  what  you  stated  in  your  own 
speech  for  the  prosecution'?  Gabinius  said  that  he  did  that 
for  the  sake  of  the  republic,  because  he  was  afraid  of  the 
fleet  of  Archelaus, — because  he  thought  that  otherwise  the 
sea  would  be  entirely  full  of  pirates.  He  said,  moreover, 
that  he  was  authorized  to  do  so  by  a  law.  You,  his  enemy, 
deny  that.  I  pardon  your  denial,  and  so  much  the  more 
because  the  decision  was  contrary  to  the  statement  of  Ga- 
binius. 

I  return,  therefore,  to  the  charge,  and  to  your  speech  for  the 
prosecution.  Why  did  you  keep  crying  out  that  ten  thousand 
talents  had  been  promised  to  Gabinius?  I  suppose  it  was 
necessary  to  find  out  a  very  civil  man  indeed,  who  should  be 
able  to  prevail  on  one  whom  you  call  the  most  avaricious  of 
men,  not  to  despise  immoderately  two  hundred  and  forty  mill- 
ions of  sesterces.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  intention  with 
which  Gabinius  acted,  it  certainly  was  his  own  unsuggested 
intention.  Whatever  sort  of  idea  it  was,  it  was  Gabinius's 
own.  Whether,  as  he  said  himself,  his  object  was  glory,  or 
whether,  as  you  insist,  it  was  money,  it  was  for  himself  that 
he  sought  it.  Had  Gabinius  any  companion  or  attendant? 
He  says,  no.  For  he  had  departed  from  Eome  in  deference 
to  the  authority,  not  of  Gabinius,  whose  business  it  was  not, 
but  of  Publius  Lentulus,  a  most  illustrious  man,  given  to  him 
by  the  senate,  and  with  a  definite  design,  and  with  very  san- 
guine hopes. 

But  he  was  the  king's  steward.  Ay,  and  he  was  in  the 
king's  prison,  and  his  life  was  nearly  taken  away.     He  bore 


-228  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

many  things  besides,  which  the  caprice  of  the  king  and  neces- 
sity compelled  him  to  endure.  80  that  all  these  matters  come 
under  one  single  reproach,  that  he  entered  his  kingdom,  and 
that  he  intrusted  himself  to  the  power  of  the  king.  A  very 
foolish  action,  if  we  must  say  the  truth.  For  what  can  be 
more  foolish  than  for  a  Roman  knight,  a  man  of  this  city,  I 
say,  a  citizen  of  this  republic,  which,  of  all  others,  is,  and  al- 
ways has  been,  most  especially  free,  to  go  into  a  place  where 
he  is  forced  to  obey  and  be  the  steward  of  another? 

IX.  But,  nevertheless,  may  I  not  pardon  this  in  Postumus, 
who  is  not  a  man  of  much  learning,  when  I  see  that  the  very 
wisest  men  have  fallen  into  the  same  error?  We  have  heard 
that  that  great  man,  beyond  all  comparison  the  most  learned 
man  that  all  Greece  ever  produced,  Plato,  was  in  the  greatest 
danger,  and  was  exposed  to  the  most  treacherous  designs  by 
the  wickedness  of  Dionysius,  the  tyrant  of  Sicily,  to  whom 
he  had  trusted  himself.  We  know  that  Callisthenes,  a  very 
learned  man,  the  companion  of  Alexander  the  Great,  was  slain 
by  Alexander.  We  know  that  Demetrius, — he,  too,  being  a 
citizen  of  the  free  republic  of  Athens,  the  affairs  of  which  he 
had  conducted  with  the  greatest  ability,  and  being  also  a  man 
eminent  for,  and  deeply  impressed  with,  learning, — the  one, 
I  mean,  who  was  surnamed  Phalereus,  was  deprived  of  his  life 
in  that  self-same  kingdom  of  Egypt,  having  had  an  asp  applied 
to  his  body.  I  plainly  confess  that  nothing  more  insane  can 
be  done,  than  for  a  man  willingly  to  come  into  a  place  where 
he  will  lose  his  liberty.  But  the  still  greater  folly  which  he 
had  already  committed  is  his  excuse  for  the  folly  of  this  sub- 
sequent conduct ;  for  that  causes  this  most  stupid  action,  the 
act,  I  mean,  of  going  into  the  kingdom,  and  of  trusting  him- 
self to  the  king,  to  appear  a  wise  and  sensible  step.  At  all 
events,  it  is  not  so  much  the  act  of  one  who  is  forever  a  fool, 
as  one  who  is  wise  too  late,  after  he  has  got  into  difficulties 
through  his  folly,  to  endeavor  to  release  himself  by  whatever 
means  he  can.  Let,  then,  that  be  regarded  as  a  iixed  and 
certain  point,  which  can  neither  be  moved  nor  changed,  in 
which  those  who  look  fairly  at  the  matter  say  that  Postumus 
had  entertained  hopes,  those  who  arc  unfavorable  to  him  Bay 
that  he  made  a  blunder,  and  he  himself  confesses  that  he 
acted  like  a  madman,  in  lending  his  own  money,  and  that 
of  his  friends,  to  the  king,  to  the  great  danger  of  his  own  for- 
tunes ;  still,  when  this  had  once  been  begun,  it  was  necessary 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  229 

to  endure  these  other  evils,  in  order,  at  last,  to  reunite  him- 
self to  his  friends.  Therefore,  you  may  reproach  him  as 
often  as  you  please  with  having  worn  an  Egyptian  robe, 
and  with  having  had  about  him  other  ornaments  which  are 
not  worn  by  a  Roman  citizen.  For  every  time  that  you 
mention  any  one  of  these  particulars,  you  are  only  repeating 
that  same  thing — that  he  lent  money  rashly  to  the  king,  and 
that  he  trusted  his  fortunes  and  his  character  to  the  royal 
caprice.  He  did  so  rashly,  I  confess  it ;  but  the  case  could 
not  possibly  be  changed  then ;  either  he  was  forced  to  put 
on  an  Egyptian  cloak  at  Alexandria,  in  order  afterward  to  be 
able  to  wear  his  gown  at  Rome ;  or,  if  he  retained  his  gown 
in  Egypt,  he  must  have  discarded  all  hope  of  recovering  his 
fortunes. 

X.  For  the  sake  of  luxury  and  pleasure  we  have  often  seen, 
not  only  ordinary  Roman  citizens,  but  youths  of  high  birth, 
and  even  some  senators,  men  born  in  the  highest  rank,  wear- 
ing little  caps,  not  in  their  country-seats  or  their  suburban 
villas,  but  at  Naples,  in  a  much-frequented  town.  We  have 
even  seen  Lucius  Sylla,  that  great  commander,  in  a  cloak. 
And  you  can  now  see  the  statue  of  Lucius  Seipio,  who  con- 
ducted the  war  in  Asia,  and  defeated  Antiochus,  standing  in 
the  Capitol,  not  only  with  a  cloak,  but  also  with  Grecian  slip- 
pers. And  yet  these  men  not  only  were  not  liable  to  be  tried 
for  wearino-  them,  but  they  were  not  even  talked  about ;  and, 
at  all  events,  the  excuse  of  necessity  will  be  a  more  valid  de- 
fense for  Publius  Rutilius  Rufus ;  for  when  he  had  been  caught 
at  Mitylene  by  Mithridates,  he  avoided  the  cruelty  with  which 
the  king  treated  all  who  wore  the  Roman  gown,  by  changing 
his  apparel.  Therefore,  that  Rutilius,  who  was  a  pattern  to 
our  citizens  of  virtue,  and  of  the  ancient  dignity,  and  of  pru- 
dence, and  a  man  of  consular  rank,  put  on  slippers  and  a  cloak. 
Nor  did  any  one  think  of  reproaching  the  man  with  having 
done  so,  but  all  imputed  it  to  the  necessity  of  the  time.  And 
shall  that  garment  bring  an  accusation  upon  Postumus,  which 
afforded  him  a  hope  that  he  might  at  some  time  or  other  re- 
cover his  fortune  ? 

For  when  he  came  to  Alexandria  to  Auletes,1  O  judges,  this 

one  means  of  saving  his  money  was  proposed  to  Postumus  by 

the  king — namely,  that  he  should  undertake  the  management, 

and,  as  it  were,  the  stewardship  of  the  royal  revenues-     Aad 

1  Ptoiemaeus  was  surnamed  Auletes. 


230  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

he  could  not  do  that  unless  he  became  the  steward.  For  he 
uses  that  title  which  had  been  given  to  the  office  by  the  king. 
The  business  seemed  an  odious  one  to  Postumus,  but  he  had 
actually  no  power  of  declining  it.  The  name  itself,  too,  was 
annoying;  but  the  business  had  that  name  of  old  among  those 
people,  it  was  not  now  newly  imposed  by  the  king.  He  de- 
tested also  that  dress,  but  without  it  he  could  neither  have  the 
title  nor  fill  his  office.  Therefore,  I  say,  that  he  was  com- 
pelled by  force  to  act  as  he  did, — by  force  which,  as  our  great 
poet  says — 

"  Breaks  and  subdues  the  loftiest  dignity." 

He  should  have  died,  you  will  say ;  for  that  is  the  alternative. 
And  so  he  would  have  done,  if,  while  his  affairs  were  in  such 
a  state  of  embarrassment,  he  could  have  died  without  the 
greatest  disgrace. 

XI.  Do  not,  then,  impute  his  hard  fortune  to  him  as  a 
fault ;  do  not  think  the  injury  done  to  him  by  the  king  his 
crime  ;  do  not  judge  of  his  intentions  by  the  compulsions  un- 
der which  he  was,  nor  of  his  inclination  by  the  force  to  which 
he  submitted.  Unless,  indeed,  you  think  those  men  deserving 
of  reproach  who  have  fallen  among  enemies  or  among  thieves, 
and  who  then  act  differently  under  compulsion  from  what  they 
would  if  they  were  free.  No  one  of  us  is  ignorant,  even  if  we 
have  had  no  personal  experience  of  it,  of  the  mode  of  proceed- 
ing adopted  by  a  king.  These  are  the  orders  given  by  kings, 
— "Take  notice,"  "Obey  orders,"  "Do  not  complain  when 
you  are  not  asked."  These  are  their  threats, — "If  I  catch 
you  here  to-morrow,  you  shall  die."  Expressions  which  we 
ought  to  read  and  consider,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  being 
amused  by  them,  but  in  order  to  learn  to  beware  of  their  au- 
thors, and  to  avoid  them. 

But  from  the  circumstance  of  this  employment  itself  an- 
other charge  arises.  For  the  prosecutor  says,  that  while  Pos- 
tumus was  collecting  the  money  for  Gabinius,  he  also  amass- 
ed money  for  himself  out  of  the  tenths  belonging  to  the  gen- 
erals. I  do  not  quite  understand  what  this  charge  means ; 
whether  Postumus  is  charged  with  having  made  an  addition 
of  one  per  cent,  to  the  tenth,  as  our  own  collectors  are  in  the 
habit  of  doing,  or  whether  he  deducted  that  sum  from  the 
total  amount  of  the  tenths.  If  he  made  that  addition,  then 
eleven  thousand  talents  came  to  Gabinius.     But  not  only  was 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  231 

the  amount  mentioned  by  you  ten  thousand  talent?,  but  that 
also  was  the  sum  at  which  it  was  estimated  by  them.  I  add 
this  consideration  also.  How  can  it  be  likely,  that  when  the 
burden  of  the  tributes  was  already  so  heavy,  an  addition  of 
one  thousand  talents  could  be  made  to  so  large  a  sum  which 
was  to  be  collected  !  or  that,  when  a  man,  a  most  avaricious 
man  as  you  make  him  out,  was  to  receive  so  large  a  reward, 
he  would  put  up  with  a  diminution  of  a  thousand  talents'? 
For  it  was  not  like  Gabinius,  to  give  up  so  vast  a  portion  of 
what  he  had  a  right  to  ;  nor  was  it  natural  for  the  king  to 
allow  him  to  impose  so  great  an  additional  tax  on  his  sub- 
jects. Witnesses  will  be  produced,  deputies  from  Alexandria. 
They  have  not  said  a  word  against  Gabinius.  Nay,  they  have 
even  praised  Gabinius.  Where,  then,  is  that  custom ;  what 
has  become  of  the  usages  of  courts  of  justice  ?  Where  are 
your  precedents  ?  Is  it  usual  to  produce  a  witness  to  give  ev- 
idence against  a  man  who  has  been  the  collector  of  monev 
when  he  has  not  been  able  to  say  a  word  against  the  man  in 
whose  name  the  money  was  collected  ?  Nay  more ;  if  it  is 
usual  to  produce  a  man  who  has  said  nothing,  is  it  usual  to 
produce  one  who  has  spoken  in  his  praise*?  Is  it  not  custom- 
ary rather  to  look  on  such  a  cause  as  already  decided,  and  to 
think  that  it  is  sufficient  to  read  the  previous  evidence  of  the 
witnesses,  without  producing  the  men  themselves'? 

XII.  And  this  intimate  companion  and  friend  of  mine  says 
also  that  the  men  of  Alexandria  had  the  same  reason  for  prais- 
ing Gabinius  that  I  had  for  defending  him.  My  reason,  O 
Caius  Memmius,  for  defending  him  was,  that  I  had  become 
reconciled  to  him.  Nor  do  I  repent  of  considering  my  friend- 
ships immortal,  but  my  enmities  mortal.  For  if  you  think 
that  I  defended  him  against  my  will,  because  I  did  not  like  to 
oifend  Pompeius,  you  are  very  ignorant  both  of  his  character 
and  of  mine.  For  Pompeius  would  not  have  wished  me  to 
do  any  thing  contrary  to  my  inclination  for  his  sake.  Nor 
would  I,  to  whom  the  liberty  of  all  the  citizens  has  always 
been  the  dearest  object,  ever  have  abandoned  my  own.  As 
long  as  I  was  on  terms  of  the  greatest  enmity  to  Gabinius, 
Pompeius  was  in  no  respect  the  less  my  dearest  friend.  Nor 
after  I  had  made  to  his  authority  that  concession  to  which  it 
was  entitled  from  me,  did  I  feign  any  thing ;  I  could  not  be- 
have with  treachery  so  as  to  injure  the  very  man  whom  I  had 
just  been  obliging.     For  by  refusing  to  be  reconciled  to  my 


232  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

enemy,  I  was  doing  no  barm  to  Pompeius :  but  if  I  bad  rl- 
lowed  liirn  to  reconcile  us,  and  yet  bad  myself  been  recon- 
ciled to  Gabinius  with  a  treacberous  intention,  I  sbould  have 
behaved  dishonestly, — principally,  indeed,  to  myself,  but  in  tbe 
next  degree  to  him  also. 

But,  however,  I  will  say  no  more  about  myself.  Let  us  re- 
turn to  those  Alexandrians.  What  a  face  those  men  have ! 
What  audacity !  The  other  day,  when  we  were  present  at 
the  trial  of  Gabinius,  they  were  cross-examined  at  every  third 
word  they  said.  They  declared  that  the  money  had  not  been 
given  to  Gabinius.  The  evidence  of  Pompeius  was  read  at 
the  same  time,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  written  to  the  king 
that  no  money  had  been  given  to  Gabinius  except  for  mili- 
tary purposes.  "At  that  time,"  says  the  prosecutor,  "the 
judges  refused  to  believe  the  Alexandrians."  What  does  he 
say  next?  "Now  they  do  believe  them."  Why  so?  "Be- 
cause they  now  affirm  what  they  then  denied."  What  of 
that  ?  Is  this  the  way  in  which  we  are  to  regard  witnesses, 
— to  refuse  them  belief  when  they  deny  a  thing,  but  to  be- 
lieve the  very  same  men  when  they  affirm  a  thing  1  But  if 
they  told  the  truth  then,  when  they  spoke  with  every  appear- 
ance of  truth,  they  are  telling  lies  now.  If  they  told  lies  thent 
they  must  give  us  good  proof  that  they  are  now  speaking  the 
truth.  Why  need  I  say  more.  Let  them  hold  their  tongues. 
We  have  heard  men  speak  of  Alexandria  before.  Now  we 
know  it  from  our  own  experience.  Thence  it  is,  that  every 
sort  of  chicanery  comes.  Thence,  I  say,  comes  every  sort  of 
deceit.  It  is  from  that  people  that  all  the  plots  of  the  farce- 
writers  are  derived.  And,  indeed,  there  is  nothing  which  I 
wish  for  more,  O  judges,  than  to  see  the  witnesses  face  to  face. 

XIII.  They  gave  their  evidence  a  little  while  ago  before 
this  tribunal,  at  the  same  time  that  we  ourselves  did.  With 
what  effrontery  did  they  then  repudiate  the  charge  of  this  ten 
thousand  talents!  You  are  acquainted  by  this  time  with  the. 
absurd  ways  of  the  Greeks.  They  shrugged  their  shoulders 
at  that  time,  I  suppose,  in  respect  of  the  existing  emergency; 
but  now  there  is  no  such  necessity.  When  any  one  has  once 
perjured  himself  he  can  not  be  believed  afterward,  not  even 
if  he  swears  by  more  gods  than  he  did  before;  especially,  O 
judges,  when  in  trials  of  this  sort  there  is  not  usually  any 
room  for  a  new  witness;  and  on  that  account  the  same  judges 
are  retained  who  were  judges  in  the  case  of  the  original  de* 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  233 

fendant,  because  every  thing  is  already  known  to  them,  and 
nothing  new  can  be  invented. 

Actions  on  the  formula,  "What  has  become  of  that  money," 
are  usually  decided,  not  by  any  proceedings  taken  especially 
with  reference  to  them,  but  by  those  which  were  adopted  in 
the  case  of  the  original  defendant.  Therefore,  if  Gabinius 
had  either  given  sureties,  or  if  the  people  had  got  as  large  a 
sum  out  of  his  property  as  the  damages  amounted  to,  then, 
however  large  a  sum  had  been  obtained  from  him  by  Postu- 
mus,  none  would  have  been  demanded  back  again.  So  that 
it  may  easily  be  seen,  that  in  a  case  of  this  sort,  the  money  is 
only  demanded  back  again  from  any  one  who  has  been  clear- 
ly proved  in  the  former  action  to  have  become  possessed  of  it. 
But  at  present  what  is  the  question  under  discussion  I  Where 
in  the  world  are  we  ?  What  can  be  either  said  or  imagined 
so  unprecedented,  so  unsuitable,  so  preposterous  as  this  ?  That 
man  is  being  prosecuted  who  did  not  receive  any  money  from 
the  king,  as  it  has  been  decided  that  Gabinius  did,  but  who 
lent  a  vast  sum  of  money  to  the  king.  Therefore,  he  gave  it  to 
Gabinius,  as  he  certainly  did  not  repay  it  to  Postumus,  Tell 
me  now,  I  beg,  since  the  man  who  owed  Postumus  money  did 
not  pay  it  to  him,  but  gave  money  to  Gabinius,  now  that  Ga- 
binius is  condemned  has  he  paid  him  back  that  money,  or  does 
he  owe  it  to  him  still? 

XIV.  "  Oh,  but  Postumus  has  the  money,  and  is  hiding  it." 
For  there  are  men  who  talk  in  this  wav.  What  a  strange 
sort  of  ostentation  and  vain-gloriousness  is  this !  If  he  had 
never  originally  had  any  thing,  still,  if  he  had  acquired  a  for- 
tune, there  could  be  no  reason  why  he  should  conceal  his  hav- 
ing it.  But  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  had  inherited  two  am- 
ple and  splendid  patrimonial  estates,  and  who  had,  moreover, 
increased  his  property  by  legitimate  and  honorable  means, 
what  reason  could  there  possibly  be  why  he  should  wish  to 
be  supposed  to  have  nothing?  Are  we  to  believe  that,  when 
he  was  induced  by  the  hope  of  interest  to  lend  his  money, 
his  object  was  to  have  as  large  an  estate  as  possible,  but  that 
after  he  had  got  back  the  money  which  he  had  lent,  he  then 
wished  to  be  thought  to  be  in  want?  He  is  certainly  aiming 
at  quite  a  new  sort  of  glory.  "  And  again,"  says  the  prose- 
cutor, "he  acted  in  a  very  arbitrary  manner  at  Alexandria." 
I  should  rather  say  he  was  treated  in  a  most  arbitrary,  ay,  in 
a  most  insolent  manner ;  he  himself  had  to  endure  inprison- 


234  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ment.  He  saw  his  intimate  friends  thrown  into  prison.  Death 
was  constantly  before  his  eyes.  And  at  last,  naked  and  needy, 
he  fled  from  the  kingdom.  "But  his  money  was  employed  in 
commerce  in  other  quarters.  We  have  heard  that  ships  be- 
longing to  Postumus  arrived  at  Puteoli,  and  merchandise  be- 
longing to  him  was  seen  there,  things  only  showy  and  of  no 
real  value,  made  of  paper,  and  linen,  and  glass  ;  and  there  were 
several  ships  entirely  filled  with  such  articles ;  but  there  was 
also  one  little  ship,  the  contents  of  which  were  not  known." 
That  voyage  to  Puteoli  (such  was  the  conversation  at  that 
time),  and  the  course  taken  by  the  crew,  and  the  parade  they 
made,  and  the  fact,  too,  of  the  name  of  Postumus  being  rather 
unpopular  with  some  spiteful  people,  on  account  of  some  idea 
or  other  respecting  his  money,  filled  in  one  summer  numbers 
of  ears  with  those  topics  of  conversation. 

XV.  But  if,  O  judges,  you  wish  to  know  the  truth, — if  the 
liberality  of  Caius  Caesar,  which  is  very  great  to  every  one, 
had  not  been  quite  incredible  toward  my  client,  we  should 
long  since  have  ceased  to  have  Postumus  among  us  in  the 
forum.  He  by  himself,  took  upon  himself  the  burden  of  many 
of  Postumus' s  friends;  and  those  responsibilities,  which  dur- 
ing the  prosperity  of  Postumus  many  of  his  friends  supported 
by  dividing  them,  now  that  he  is  unfortunate,  Caesar  supports 
the  whole  of.  You  see,  O  judges,  the  shadow  and  phantom 
of  a  Roman  knight,  preserved  by  the  assistance  and  good  faith 
of  one  single  friend.  Nothing  can  be  taken  from  him  except 
this  image  of  his  former  dignity,  and  that  Caesar  by  himself 
preserves  and  maintains.  And  that,  even  amid  his  greatest 
distresses,  is  still  to  be  attributed  to  him  in  an  eminent  degree. 

Unless,  indeed,  this  can  be  effected  by  a  moderate  degree  of 
nrtue,  that  so  just  a  man  as  Csesar  should  think  this  my  client 
of  so  much  consequence,  especially  now  that  he  is  in  distress 
and  absent,  and  while  he  himself  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  such 
splendid  fortune  that  it  is  a  great  thing  for  him  to  give  a 
thought  to  the  fortunes  of  others ;  while  he  is  so  incessantly 
busied  about  the  mighty  achievements  which  he  has  performed 
and  is  still  performing,  that  it  would  be  no  wonder  if  he  for- 
got other  people  altogether ;  and  even  if  he  afterward  recol- 
lected that  he  had  forgotten  them,  he  would  easily  find  excuse 
for  so  doing. 

I  have,  indeed,  before  now,  become  acquainted  with  many 
virtues  of  Caius  Caesar,  great  and  incredible  virtues.      But 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  235 

those  other  virtues  of  his  are  suited  as  it  were  to  a  more  ex- 
tensive theatre,  are  what  I  may  almost  call  virtues  to  catch 
the  eye  of  the  people.  To  select  a  place  for  a  camp,  to  array 
an  army,  to  storm  cities,  to  put  to  flight  the  army  of  the  ene- 
my, to  "endure  the  severity  of  cold  and  bad  weather,  which  we 
can  hardly  support  sheltered  by  the  houses  of  this  city  ;  at 
this  very  time1  to  be  pursuing  the  enemy,  at  a  time  when 
even  the  wild  beasts  hide  themselves  in  their  lurking-places, 
and  when  all  wars  are  suspended  by  the  general  consent  of 
nations ; — these  are  great  deeds :  who  denies  it  !  But  still 
they  are  prompted  by  vast  rewards,  being  handed  down  to  the 
eternal  recollection  of  men.  So  that  there  is  less  reason  to 
wonder  at  a  man's  performing  them  who  is  ambitious  of  im- 
mortality. 

XVI.  This  is  wonderful  praise,  which  is  not  celebrated  by 
the  verses  of  poets,  nor  by  the  records  of  annals,  but  is  esti- 
mated by  the  judgments  of  wise  men.  He  took  up  the  cause 
of  a  Roman  knight,  his  own  ancient  friend,  one  zealous  for, 
attached  and  devoted  to  himself,  who  was  getting  involved  in 
difficulties;  not  through  licentiousness,  nor  through  any  dis- 
creditable expense  and  waste  to  gratify  his  passions,  but 
through  an  honest  endeavor  to  increase  his  fortune ;  he  would 
not  allow  him  to  fall ;  he  propped  him  up  and  supported  him 
with  his  estate,  his  fortune,  and  his  good  faith,  and  he  supports 
him  to  this  day.  Nor  will  he  allow  his  friend,  trembling  in 
the  balance  as  he  is,  to  fall ;  nor  does  the  splendor  of  his  own 
reputation  at  all  dazzle  his  eyes,  nor  does  the  height  of  his  OAvn 
position  and  of  his  own  renown  at  all  obscure  the  piercing 
vision  of  his  mind.  Grant  that  those  achievements  of  his  are 
great  things,  as  in  truth  they  are ;  every  one  else  may  agree 
with  my  opinion  or  not,  as  he  pleases,  for  I,  amid  all  his  power 
and  all  his  good-fortune,  prefer  this  liberality  of  his  toward 
his  friends,  and  his  recollection  of  old  friendship,  to  all  the  rest 
of  his  virtues.  And  you,  O  judges,  ought  not  only  not  to  de- 
spise or  to  regret  this  goodness  of  so  novel  a  kind,  so  unusual 
in  illustrious  and  pre-eminently  powerful  men,  but  even  to  em- 
brace and  increase  it ;  and  so  much  the  more,  because  you  see 
that  these  days  have  been  taken  for  the  purpose  of,  as  it  were, 
undermining  his  dignity;  from  which  nothing  can  be  taken 
which  he  will  not  either  bravely  bear,  or  easily  replace.  But 
if  he  hears  that  his  dearest  friend  has  been  stripped  of  his  hon* 

1  This  trial  took  place  in  January. 


236  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

orable  position,  that  he  will  not  endure  without  just  indigna- 
tion ;  and  yet  he  will  not  have  lost  what  he  can  have  no  possi- 
ble hope  of  ever  recovering. 

XVII.  These  arguments  ought  to  be  quite  sufficient  for  men 
who  are  of  a  just  disposition  ;  and  more  than  sufficient  for  you, 
who  we  feel  sure  are  men  of  the  greatest  justice.  But,  in  or- 
der fully  to  satisfy  every  body's  suspicions  or  malevolence,  o>* 
even  cruelty,  we  will  take  this  statement  too.  "Postumus 
is  hiding  his  money  ;  the  king's  riches  are  concealed."  Is  there 
any  one  of  all  this  people  who  would  like  to  have  all  the  prop- 
erty of  Caius  Rabirius  Postumus  knocked  down  to  him  for 
one  single  sesterce  I1  But,  miserable  man  that  I  am!  with 
what  great  pain  do  I  say  this, — Come,  Postumus,  are  you  the 
son  of  Caius  Curius,  the  son,  as  far  as  his  judgment  and  in- 
clination go,  of  Caius  Rabirius,  not  in  reality  and  by  nature 
the  son  of  his  sister  ?  Are  you  the  man  who  is  so  liberal  to 
all  his  relations  ;  whose  kindness  has  enriched  many  men  ; 
who  has  never  wasted  any  thing ;  who  has  never  spent  any 
money  on  any  profligacy'?  and  all  your  property,  O  Postumus, 
knocked  down  by  me  for  one  single  sesterce?  Oh  how  mis- 
erable and  bitter  is  my  office  as  an  auctioneer !  But  he,  mis- 
erable man,  even  wishes  to  be  convicted  by  you  ;  and  to  have 
his  property  sold,  so  that  every  one  may  be  repaid  his  principal. 
Pie  has  no  concern  about  any  thing  except  his  own  good  faith. 
Nor  will  you,  if  you  should,  in  his  case,  think  fit  to  forget  your 
habitual  humanity,  be  able  to  take  from  him  any  thing  beyond 
his  property.  But,  O  judges,  I  beg  and  entreat  you  not  to  for- 
get that  usual  course  of  yours,  and  so  much  the  more  as  in  this 
instance  money  which  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  is  being  claim- 
ed of  a  man  who  is  not  even  repaid  his  own.  Odium  is  sought 
to  be  stirred  up  against  a  man,  who  ought  to  find  an  ally  in 
the  general  pity. 

But  now,  since,  as  I  hope,  I  have  discharged  as  well  as  I 
have  been  able  to,  the  obligations  of  good  faith  to  you,  O  Pos- 
tumus, I  will  give  you  also  the  aid  of  my  tears,  as  I  well  may; 
for  I  saw  abundant  tears  shed  by  you  at  the  time  of  my  own 
misfortune*  That  miserable  night  is  constantly  present  to  the 
eyes  of  all  my  friends,  on  which  you  came  to  me  with  your 
forces,  and  devoted  yourself  wholly  to  me.  You  supported 
me  at  that  time  cf  my  departure  with  your  companions,  with 
your  protection,  and  even  as  much  gold  as  that  time  would 
1   Those  who  boegirt  a  property  took  It  wi'h  all  its  liabilities. 


FOR  C.  R.  POSTUMUS.  237 

admit  of.  During  the  time  of  my  absence  you  were  never  de- 
ficient in  comforting  and  aiding  my  children,  or  my  wife.  I 
can  produce  many  men  who  have  been  recalled  from  banish- 
ment as  witnesses  of  your  liberality ;  conduct  which  I  have 
often  heard  was  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  your  father,  whose 
behavior  was  like  your  own,  when  he  Avas  tried  for  his  life. 
But  at  present  I  am  afraid  of  every  thing :  I  dread  even  the 
unpopularity  which  your  very  kindness  of  disposition  may  pro- 
voke. Already  the  weeping  of  so  many  men  as  we  behold  in- 
dicates how  beloved  you  arc  by  your  own  relations  ;  but,  as 
for  me,  grief  enfeebles  and  stitles  my  voice.  I  do  entreat  you, 
O  judges,  do  not  deprive  this  most  excellent  man,  than  whom 
no  more  virtuous  man  has  ever  lived,  of  the  name  of  a  Eoman 
knight,  of  the  enjoyment  of  this  light,  and  of  the  pleasure  of 
beholding  you.  He  begs  nothing  else  of  you,  except  to  be  al- 
lowed with  uplifted  eyes  to  behold  this  city,  and  to  pace 
around  the  forum ;  a  pleasure  which  fortune  would  have  al- 
ready deprived  him  of,  if  the  power  of  one  single  friend  had 
not  come  to  his  assistance. 


THE    SPEECH   OF   M.  T.  CICERO   IN   BEHALF   OF   MARCUS 

CLAUDIUS  MARCELLUS. 


THE  ARGUMENT.     . 

Marcus  Claudius  Marcellus  was  descended  from  the  most  illustrious  fam- 
ilies at  Rome,  and  had  been  consul  with  Servius  Sulpicius  Rufus  ;  in 
which  office  he  had  given  great  offense  to  Caesar  by  making  a  motion 
in  the  senate  to  deprive  him  of  his  command ;  and  in  the  civil  war  he 
espoused  the  side  of  Pompeius,  and  had  been  present  at  the  battle  of 
Pharsalia,  after  which  he  retired  to  Lesbos.  But  after  some  time  the 
whole  senate  interceded  with  Caesar  to  pardon  him,  and  to  allow  him 
to  return  to  his  country.  And  when  he  yielded  to  their  entreaties,  Cic- 
ero made  the  following  speech,  thanking  Caesar  for  his  magnanimity  ; 
though  he  had,  as  he  says  himself  (Ep.  Fam.  iv.  4),  determined  to  say 
nothing  ;  but  he  was  afraid  that  if  he  continued  silent  Caesar  would  in- 
terpret it  as  a  proof  that  he  despaired  of  the  republic. 

Caesar,  though  he  saw  the  senate  unanimous  in  their  petition  for  Marcel- 
lus, yet  had  the  motion  for  his  pardon  put  to  the  vote,  and  called  for 
the  opinion  of  every  individual  senator  on  it.  Cicero  appears  at  this 
time  to  have  believed  that  Caesar  intended  to  restore  the  republic,  as  he 
mentions  in  his  letters  (Ep.  Fam.  xiri.  68). 


238  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

I.  Tins  da)7,  O  conscript  fathers,  has  brought  with  it  an  end 
to  the  long  silence  in  which  I  have  of  late  indulged ;  not  out 
of  any  fear,  but  partly  from  sorrow,  partly  from  modesty ;  and 
at  the  same  time  it  has  revived  in  me  my  ancient  habit  of  say- 
ing what  my  wishes  and  opinions  are.  For  I  can  not  by  any 
means  pass  over  in  silence  such  great  humanity,  such  unprec- 
edented and  unheard-of  clemency,  such  moderation  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  supreme  and  universal  power,  such  incredible  and 
almost  godlike  wisdom.  For  now  that  Marcus  Marcellus,  O 
conscript  fathers,  has  been  restored  to  you  and  the  republic,  I 
think  that  not  only  his  voice  and  authority  are  preserved  and 
restored  to  you  and  to  the  republic,  but  my  own  also. 

For  I  was  concerned,  O  conscript  fathers,  and  most  exceed- 
ingly grieved,  wrhen  I  saw  such  a  man  as  he  is,  who  had 
espoused  the  same  cause  which  I  myself  had,  not  enjoying 
the  same  good  fortune  as  myself;  nor  was  I  able  to  persuade 
myself  to  think  it  right  or  fair  that  I  should  be  going  on  in 
my  usual  routine,  while  that  rival  and  imitator  of  my  zeal 
and  labors,  who  had  been  a  companion  and  comrade  of  mine 
throughout,  was  separated  from  me.  •  Therefore,  you,  O  Caius 
Caesar,  have  reopened  to  me  my  former  habits  of  life,  which 
were  closed  up,  and  you  have  raised,  as  it  were,  a  standard  to 
all  these  men,  as  a  sort  of  token  to  lead  them  to  entertain 
hopes  of  the  general  welfare  of  the  republic.  For  it  was  seen 
by  me  before  in  many  instances,  and  especially  in  my  own, 
and  now  it  is  clearly  understood  by  every  body,  since  you  have 
granted  Marcus  Marcellus  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome, 
in  spite  of  your  recollection  of  all  the  injuries  you  have  received 
at  his  hands,  that  you  prefer  the  authority  of  this  order  and 
the  dignity  of  the  republic  to  the  indulgence  of  your  own  re- 
sentment or  your  own  suspicions. 

He,  indeed,  has  this  day  reaped  the  greatest  possible  reward 
for  the  virtuous  tenor  of  his  previous  life  ;  in  the  great  una- 
nimity of  the  senate  in  his  favor,  and  also  in  your  own  most 
dignified  and  important  opinion  of  him.  And  from  this  you, 
in  truth,  must  perceive  what  great  credit  there  is  in  conferring 
a  kindness,  when  there  is  such  glory  to  be  got  even  by  receiv- 
ng  one.  And  he,  too,  is  fortunate  whose  safety  is  now  the 
lause  of  scarcely  less  joy  to  all  other  men  than  it  will  be  to 
limself  when  he  is  informed  of  it.  And  this  honor  has  de- 
irvedly  and  most  rightfully  fallen  to  his  lot.  For  who  is 
superior  to  him  either  in  nobleness  of  birth,  or  in  honesty,  or 


FOR  M.  C.  MARCELLUS.  239 

in  zeal  for  virtuous  studies,  or  in  purity  of  life,  or  in  any  de- 
scription whatever  of  excellence. 

II.  No  one  is  blessed  with  such  a  stream  of  genius,  no  one 
is  endowed  with  such  vigor  and  richness  of  eloquence,  either 
as  a  speaker  or  as  a  writer,  as  to  be  able,  I  will  not  say  to 
extol,  but  even,  O  Caius  Cassar,  plainly  to  relate  all  your 
achievements.  Nevertheless,  I  assert,  and  with  your  leave  I 
maintain,  that  in  all  of  them  you  never  gained  greater  and 
truer  glory  than  you  have  acquired  this  day.  I  am  accustomed 
often  to  keep  this  idea  before  my  eyes,  and  often  to  affirm  in 
frequent  conversations,  that  all  the  exploits  of  our  own  gener- 
als, all  those  of  foreign  nations  and  of  most  powerful  states, 
all  the  mighty  deeds  of  the  most  illustrious  monarchs,  can  be 
compared  with  yours  neither  in  the  magnitude  of  your  wars, 
nor  in  the  number  of  your  battles,  nor  in  the  variety  of  coun- 
tries which  you  have  conquered,  nor  in  the  rapidity  of  your 
conquests,  nor  in  the  great  difference  of  character  with  which 
your  wars  have  been  marked ;  and  that  those  countries  tin* 
most  remote  from  each  other  could  not  be  traveled  over  more 
rapidly  by  any  one  in  a  journey,  than  they  have  been  visited 
by  your,  I  will  not  say  journeys,  but  victories. 

And  if  I  were  not  to  admit,  that  those  actions  are  so  great 
that  scarcely  any  man's  mind  or  comprehension  is  capable  of 
doing  justice  to  them,  I  should  be  very  senseless.  But  there 
are  other  actions  greater  than  those.  For  some  people  are  in 
the  habit  of  disparaging  military  glory,  and  of  denying  the 
whole  of  it  to  the  generals,  and  of  giving  the  multitude  a  share 
of  it  also,  so  that  it  may  not  be  the  peculiar  property  of  the 
commanders.  And,  no  doubt,  in  the  affairs  of  war,  the  valor 
of  the  troops,  the  advantages  of  situation,  the  assistance  of 
allies,  fleets,  and  supplies,  have  great  influence;  and  a  most 
important  share  in  all  such  transactions,  Fortune  claims  for 
herself,  as  of  her  right ;  and  whatever  has  been  done  success- 
fully she  considers  almost  entirely  as  her  own  work. 

But  in  this  glory,  O  Caius  Caesar,  which  you  have  just  earn- 
ed, you  have  no  partner.  The  whole  of  this,  however  great  it 
may  be, — and  surely  it  is  as  great  as  possible, — the  whole  of 
it,  I  say,  is  your  own.  The  centurion  can  claim  for  himself 
no  share  of  that  praise,  neither  can  the  prefect,  nor  the  bat 
talion,  nor  the  squadron.  Nay,  even  that  very  mistress  of  alj 
human  affairs,  Fortune  herself,  can  not  thrust  herself  into  any 
participation  in  that  glory  ;  she  yields  to  you ;  she  confesses 


240  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

that  it  is  all  your  own,  your  peculiar  private  desert.  For 
rashness  is  never  united  with  "wisdom,  nor  is  chance  ever  ad- 
mitted to  regulate  affairs  conducted  with  prudence. 

III.  You  have  subdued  nations,  savage  in  their  barbarism, 
countless  in  their  numbers,  boundless,  if  we  regard  the  extent 
of  country  peopled  by  them,  and  rich  in  every  kind  of  re- 
source;  but  still  you  were  only  conquering  things,  the  nature 
and  condition  of  which  was  such  that  they  could  be  overcome 
by  force.  For  there  is  no  strength  so  great  that  it  can  not  be 
weakened  and  broken  by  arms  and  violence.  Eut  to  subdue 
one's  inclinations,  to  master  one's  angry  feelings,  to  be  moder- 
ate in  the  hour  of  victory,  to  not  merely  raise  from  the  ground 
a  prostrate  adversary,  eminent  for  noble  birth,  for  genius,  and 
for  virtue,  but  even  to  increase  his  previous  dignity, — they  arc 
actions  of  such  a  nature,  that  the  man  who  does  them,  I  do 
not  compare  to  the  most  illustrious  man,  but  I  consider  equal 
to  God. 

Therefore,  O  Caius  Cresar,  those  military  glories  of  yours 
will  be  celebrated  not  only  in  our  own  literature  and  language, 
but  in  those  of  almost  all  nations ;  nor  is  there  any  age  which 
will  ever  be  silent  about  your  praises.  But  still,  deeds  of  that 
sort,  somehow  or  other,  even  when  they  are  read,  appear  to 
be  overwhelmed  with  the  cries  of  the  soldiers  and  the  sound 
of  the  trumpets.  But  when  we  hear  or  read  of  any  thing 
which  has  been  done  with  clemency,  with  humanity,  with  jus- 
tice, with  moderation,  and  with  wisdom,  especially  in  a  time 
of  anger,  which  is  very  adverse  to  prudence,  and  in  the  hour 
of  victory,  which  is  naturally  insolent  and  haughty,  with  what 
ardor  are  we  then  inflamed  (even  if  the  actions  are  not  such 
as  have  really  been  performed,  but  are  only  fabulous),  so  as 
often  to  love  those  whom  we  have  never  seen !  But  as  for 
you,  whom  we  behold  present  among  us,  whose  mind,  and 
feelings,  and  countenance,  we  at  this  moment  see  to  be  such, 
that  you  wish  to  preserve  every  thing  which  the  fortune  of 
war  has  left  to  the  republic,  oh  with  what  praises  must  we 
extol  you1?  with  what  zeal  must  we  follow  you?  with  what 
affection  must  we  devote  ourselves  to  you  ?  The  very  walls, 
I  declare,  the  very  walls  of  this  senate-house  appear  to  me  ea- 
ger to  return  you  thanks;  because,  in  a  short  time,  you  will 
have  restored  their  ancient  authority  to  this  venerable  abode 
of  themselves  and  of  their  ancestors. 

IV.  In  truth,  O  conscript  fathers,  when  I  just  now,  in  com' 


FOR  M.  C.  MARCELLUS.  241 

mon  with  you,  beheld  the  tears  of  Caius  Marcellus,  a  most 
virtuous  man,  endowed  with  a  never-to-be-forgotten  affection 
for  his  brother,  the  recollection  of  all  the  Marcelli  presented 
itself  to  my  heart.  For  you,  O  Caesar,  have,  by  preserving 
Marcus  Marcellus,  restored  their  dignity  even  to  those  Mar- 
celli who  are  dead,  and  you  have  saved  that  most  noble  family, 
now  reduced  to  a  small  number,  from  perishing.  You,  there- 
fore, justly  prefer  this  day  to  all  the  splendid  and  innumerable 
congratulations  which  at  different  times  have  been  addressed 
to  you.  For  this  exploit  is  your  own  alone  ;  the  other  achieve- 
ments which  have  been  performed  by  you  as  general,  were 
great  indeed,  but  still  they  were  performed  by  the  agency  of  a 
great  and  numerous  band  of  comrades.  But  in  this  exploit 
you  are  the  general,  and  you  are  your  own  sole  comrade  :  and/ 
the  act  itself  is  such  that  no  lapse  of  time  will  ever  put  an  encft 
to  your  monuments  and  trophies ;  for  there  is  nothing  which ) 
is  wrought  by  manual  labor  which  time  will  not  sometime  or  : 
other  impair  or  destroy  ;  but  this  justice  and  lenity  of  yours  j 
will  every  day  grow  brighter  and  brighter,  so  that,  in  propor-  \ 
tion  as  time  takes  away  from  the  effect  of  your  deed,  in  the 
same  degree  it  will  add  to  your  glory.  And  you  had  already 
surpassed  all  other  conquerors  in  civil  wars,  in  equity,  and 
clemency,  but  this  day  you  have  surpassed  even  yourself.  I 
fear  that  this  which  I  am  saying  can  not,  when  it  is  only  heard, 
be  understood  as  fully  as  I  myself  think  and  feel  it ;  you  ap- 
pear to  have  surpassed  victory  itself,  since  you  have  remitted 
in  favor  of  the  conquered  those  things  which  victory  had  put 
in  your  power.  For  though  by  the  conditions  of  the  victory 
itself,  we  who  were  conquered  were  all  ruined,  we  still  have 
been  preserved  by  the  deliberate  decision  of  your  clemency. 
You,  therefore,  deserve  to  be  the  only  man  who  is  never  con- 
quered, since  you  conquer  the  conditions  and  the  violent  priv- 
ileges of  victory  itself. 

V.  And,  O  conscript  fathers,  remark  how  widely  this  decis- 
ion of  Caius  Caesar  extends.  For  by  it,  all  of  us  who,  under 
the  compulsion  of  some  miserable  and  fatal  destiny  of  the  re- 
public, were  driven  to  take  up  arms  as  we  did,  though  we  are 
still  not  free  from  the  fault  of  having  erred  as  men  may,  are  at 
all  events  released  from  all  imputation  of  wickedness.  For 
when,  at  your  entreaty,  he  preserved  Majcus  Marcellus  to  the 
republic,  he,  at  the  same  time,  restored  me  to  myself  and  to 
the  republic  though  no  one  entreated  him  in  my  favor,  and 

L 


242  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

he  restored  all  the  other  most  honorable  men  who  were  in  the 
same  case  to  ourselves  and  to  their  country ;  whom  you  now 
behold  in  numbers  and  dignity  present  in  this  very  assembly. 
He  has  not  brought  his  enemies  into  the  senate-house  ;  but  he 
has  decided  that  the  war  was  undertaken  by  most  of  them 
rather  out  of  ignorance,  and  because  of  some  ungrounded  and 
empty  fear,  than  out  of  either  any  depraved  desires  or  cruelty. 

And  in  that  war,  I  always  thought  it  right  to  listen  to  all 
proposals  that  gave  any  hope  of  peace,  and  I  always  grieved, 
that  not  only  peace,  but  that  even  the  language  of  those  citi- 
zens who  asked  for  peace,  should  be  rejected.  For  I  never 
approved  of  either  that  or  of  any  civil  war  whatever  ;  and  my 
counsels  were  always  allied  to  peace  and  peaceful  measures, 
not  to  war  and  arms.  I  followed  the  man  from  my  own  pri- 
vate feelings,  not  because  of  my  judgment  of  his  public  con- 
duct ;  and  the  faithful  recollection  of  the  grateful  disposition 
which  I  cherish  had  so  much  influence  with  me,  that  though 
I  had  not  only  no  desire  for  victory,  but  no  hope  even  of  it, 
I  rushed  on,  knowingly,  and  with  my  eyes  open,  as  it  were, 
to  a  voluntary  death.  And,  indeed,  my  sentiments  in  the  mat- 
ter were  not  at  all  concealed  yfov  in  this  assembly,  before  any 
decisive  steps  were  taken  either  way,  I  said  many  things  in 
favor  of  peace,  and  even  while  the  war  was  going  on  I  retain- 
ed the  same  opinions,  even  at  the  risk  of  my  life.1  And  from 
this  fact,  no  one  will  form  so  unjust  an  opinion  as  to  doubt 
what  Cassar's  own  inclination  respecting  the  war  was,  when, 
the  moment  that  it  was  in  his  power,  he  declared  his  opinion 
in  favor  of  saving  the  advisers  of  peace,  but  showed  his  anger 
against  the  others.  And,  perhaps,  that  was  not  very  strange 
at  a  time  when  the  event  of  the  war  was  still  uncertain,  and 
its  fortune  still  undecided.  But  he  who,  when  victorious,  at- 
taches himself  to  the  advisers  of  peace,  plainly  declares  that 
he  would  have  preferred  having  no  war  at  all  even  to  con- 
quering. 

VI.  And  in  this  matter  I  myself  am  a  witness  in  favor  of 

1  Cicero  was  not  present  at  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  but  remained  at 
Dyrrachium,  vexed  at  his  advice  bein g  totally  disregarded.  Cato  also 
remained  at  Dyrrachium.  When  Labienus  brought  them  the  news  of 
Pompey's  defeat,  Cato  offered  Cicero  the  command,  as  the  superior  in 
dignity  ;  and  Plutarch  relates,  that  on  his  refusal  of  it,  young  Pompey 
was  so  enraged,  that  he  would  have  killed  him  on  the  spot  if  Cato  had 
not  prevented  him.  And  this  is  what  Middleton  (who  quotes  the  sentence 
in  the  text)  thinks  that  Cicero  is  alluding  to  here. 


FOR  M.  C.  MARCELLUS.  243 

Marcus  Marcellus.  For  as  our  opinions  have  at  all  times 
agreed  in  time  of  peace,  so  did  they  then  in  respect  of  that 
war*.  How  often  have  I  seen  him  affected  with  the  deepest 
grief  at  the  insolence  of  certain  men,  and  dreading  also  the 
ferocity  of  victory  !  On  which  account  your  liberality,  O  Caius 
Caesar,  ought  to  be  more  acceptable  to  us  who  have  seen  those 
things.  For  now  we  may  compare,  not  the  causes  of  the  two 
parties  together,  but  the  use  which  each  would  have  made  of 
victory.  We  have  seen  your  victory  terminated  at  once  by 
the  result  of  your  battles ;  we  have  seen  no  sword  unsheathed 
in  the  city.  The  citizens  whom  we  have  lost  were  stricken 
down  by  the  force  of  Mars,  not  by  evil  feelings  let  loose  by 
victory ;  so  that  no  man  can  doubt  that  Caius  Csesar  would 
even  raise  many  from  the  dead  if  that  were  possible,  since  he 
does  preserve  all  those  of  that  army  that  he  can. 

But  of  the  other  party  I  will  say  no  more  than  what  we 
were  all  afraid  of  at  the  time,  namely,  that  theirs  would  have 
been  too  angry  a  victory.  For  some  of  them  were  in  the  hab- 
it of  indulging  in  threats  not  only  against  those  of  their  ene- 
mies who  were  in  arms,  but  even  against  those  who  remained 
quiet ;  and  they  used  to  say  that  the  matter  to  be  considered 
was  not  what  each  man  had  thought,  but  where  he  had  been. 
So  that  it  appears  to  me  that  the  immortal  gods,  even  if  they 
were  inflicting  punishment  on  the  Roman  people  for  some  of- 
fense, when  they  stirred  up  so  serious  and  melancholy  a  civil 
war,  are  at  length  appeased,  or  at  all  events  satiated,  and  have 
now  made  all  our  hopes  of  safety  depend  on  the  clemency  and 
wisdom  of  the  conqueror. 

Rejoice,  then,  in  that  admirable  and  virtuous  disposition  of 
yours;  and  enjoy  not  only  your  fortune  and  glory,  but  also 
your  own  natural  good  qualities,  and  amiable  inclinations  and 
manners ;  for  those  are  the  things  which  produce  the  greatest 
fruit  and  pleasure  to  a  wise  man.  When  you  call  to  mind 
your  other  achievements,  although  you  will  often  congratu- 
late yourself  on  your  valor,  still  you  will  often  have  reason 
to  thank  your  good  fortune  also.  But  as  often  as  you  think 
of  us  whom  you  have  chosen  to  live  safely  in  the  republic  as 
well  as  yourself,  you  will  be  thinking  at  the  same  time  of 
your  own  exceeding  kindness,  of  your  own  incredible  liberal- 
ity, of  your  own  unexampled  wisdom  ;  qualities  which  I  will 
venture  to  call  not  only  the  greatest,  but  the  only  real  bless- 
ings.     For  there  is  so  much  splendor  in  genuine  glory,  so 


244  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

much  dignity  in  magnanimity  and  real  practical  wisdom,  that 
these  qualities  appear  to  be  given  to  a  man  by  virtue,  while 
all  other  advantages  seem  only  lent  to  him  by  fortune. 

Be  not  wearied  then  in  the  preservation  of  virtuous  men ; 
especially  of  those  who  have  fallen,  not  from  any  evil  desires, 
or  depravity  of  disposition,  but  merely  from  an  opinion  of 
their  duty, — a  foolish  and  erroneous  one  perhaps,  but  certainly 
not  a  wicked  one, — and  because  they  were  misled  by  imaginary 
claims  which  they  fancied  the  republic  had  on  them.  For  it 
is  no  fault  of  yours  if  some  people  were  afraid  of  you  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  your  greatest  praise  that  they  have 
now  felt  that  they  had  no  reason  to  fear  you. 

VII.  But  now  I  come  to  those  severe  complaints,  and  to 
those  most  terrible  suspicions  that  you  have  given  utterance 
to ;  of  dangers  which  should  be  guarded  against  not  more  by 
you  yourself  than  by  all  the  citizens,  and  most  especially  by 
us  who  have  been  preserved  by  you.  And  although  I  trust 
that  the  suspicion  is  an  ungrounded  one,  still  I  will  not  speak 
so  as  to  make  light  of  it.  For  caution  for  you  is  caution  for 
ourselves.  So  that,  if  we  must  err  on  one  side  or  the  other,  I 
would  rather  appear  too  fearful,  than  not  sufficiently  prudent. 
But  still,  who  is  there  so  frantic?  Any  one  of  your  own 
friends  ?  And  yet  who  are  more  your  friends  than  those  to 
whom  you  have  restored  safety  which  they  did  not  venture  to 
hope  for?  Any  one  of  that  number  who  were  with  you  ?  It 
is  not  credible  that  any  man  should  be  so  insane  as  not  to  pre- 
fer the  life  of  that  man  who  was  his  general  when  he  obtained 
the  greatest  advantages  of  all  sorts,  to  his  own.  But  if  your 
friends  have  no  thoughts  of  wickedness,  need  you  take  precau- 
tions lest  your  enemies  may  be  entertaining  such?  Who  are 
they  ?  For  all  those  men  who  were  your  enemies  have  either 
already  lost  their  lives  through  their  obstinacy,  or  else  have 
preserved  them  through  your  mercy  ;  so  that  either  none  of 
your  enemies  survive,  or  those  who  do  survive  are  your  most 
devoted  friends.        t 

But  still,  as  there  are  so  many  hiding-places  and  so  many 
dark  corners  in  men's  minds,  let  us  increase  your  suspicions, 
for  by  so  doing  we  shall  at  the  same  time  increase  your  dili- 
gence. For  who  is  there  so  ignorant  of  every  thing,  so  very 
new  to  the  affairs  of  the  republic,  so  entirely  destitute  of 
thought  either  for  his  own  or  for  the  general  safety,  as  not  to 
understand  that  his  own  safety  is  bound  up  with  yours?  that 


FOR  M.  C.  MARCELLUS.  245 

the  lives  of  all  men  depend  on  your  single  existence?  I  my- 
self, in  truth,  while  I  think  of  you  day  and  night, — as  I  ought 
to  do, — fear  only  the  chances  to  which  all  men  are  liable,  and 
the  uncertain  events  of  health  and  the  frail  tenure  of  our  com- 
mon nature,  and  I  grieve  that,  while  the  republic  ought  to  be 
immortal,  it  depends  wholly  on  the  life  of  one  mortal  man. 
But  if  to  the  chances  of  human  life  and  the  uncertain  condi- 
tion of  man's  health  there  were  to  be  added  also  any  conspiracy 
of  wickedness  and  treachery,  then  what  god  should  we  think 
able  to  assist  the  republic,  even  if  he  were  to  desire  to  do  so  1 

VIII.  All  things,  O  Caius  Caesar,  which  you  now  see  lying 
stricken  and  prostrate — as  it  was  inevitable  that  they  should 
be — through  the  violence  of  war,  must  now  be  raised  up  again 
by  you  alone.  The  courts  of  justice  must  be  re-established, 
confidence  must  be  restored,  licentiousness  must  be  repressed, 
the  increase  of  population  must  be  encouraged,  every  thing 
which  has  become  lax  and  disordered  must  be  braced  up  and 
strengthened  bv  strict  laws.  In  so  vast  a  civil  war,  when 
there  was  such  ardor  of  feeling  and  of  warlike  preparation 
on  both  sides,  it  was  impossible  but  that — whatever  the  ulti- 
mate result  of  the  war  might  be — the  republic  which  had  been 
violently  shaken  by  it  should  lose  many  ornaments  of  its  dig- 
nity and  many  bulwarks  of  its  security,  and  that  each  general 
should  do  manv  things  while  in  arms,  which  he  would  have 
forbidden  to  have  been  done  while  clad  in  the  garb  of  peace. 
And  all  those  wounds  of  war  thus  inflicted  now  require  you 
attention,  and  there  is  no  one  except  you  who  is  able  to  heal 
them.  Therefore,  I  was  concerned  when  I  heard  that  cele- 
brated and  wise  savins;  of  vours,  "  I  have  lived  long  enough 
to  satisfy  either  nature  or  glory."  Sufficiently  long,  if  you 
please,  for  nature,  and  I  will  add,  if  you  like,  for  glory ;  but 
which  is  of  the  greatest  consequence  of  all,  certainly  not  long 
enough  for  your  country. 

Give  up  then,  I  entreat  you,  that  wisdom  of  learned  men 
shown  in  their  contempt  of  death ;  do  not  be  wise  at  our  ex- 
pense. For  it  has  often  come  to  my  ears  that  you  are  in  the 
habit  of  using  that  expression  much  too  frequently — that  you 
have  lived  long  enough  for  yourself.  I  dare  say  you  have ; 
but  I  could  only  be  willing  to  hear  you  say  so  if  you  lived 
for  yourself  alone,  or  if  you  had  been  born  for  yourself  alone. 
But  as  it  is, — as  your  exploits  have  brought  the  safety  of  all 
the  citizens  and  the  entire  republic  to  a  dependence  on  you, — 


51 


240  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

you  are  so  far  from  having  completed  your  greatest  labors, 
that  you  have  not  even  laid  the  foundations  which  you  design 
to  lay.  And  will  you  then  limit  your  life,  not  by  the  welfare 
of  the  republic,  but  by  the  tranquillity  of  your  own  mind? 
What  will  you  do,  if  that  is  not  even  sufficient  for  your 
glory,  of  which  —  wise  man  though  you  be  —  you  will  not 
deny  that  you  are  exceedingly  desirous?  "Is  it  then,"  you 
will  say,  "but  small  glory  that  we  shall  leave  behind  us? 
It  may,  indeed,  be  sufficient  for  others,  however  many  they 
may  be,  and  insufficient  for  you  alone.  For  whatever  it  is, 
however  ample  it  may  be,  it  certainly  is  insufficient,  as  long 
as  there  is  any  thing  greater  still.  And  if,  O  Caius  Caesar, 
this  was  to  be  the  result  of  your  immortal  achievements,  that 
after  conquering  all  your  enemies,  you  were  to  leave  the  re- 
public in  the  state  in  which  it  now  is ;  then  beware,  I  beg  of 
you,  lest  your  virtue  should  earn  admiration  rather  than  solid 
glory ;  since  the  glory  which  is  illustrious  and  which  is  cele- 
brated abroad,  is  the  fame  of  many  and  great  services  done 
either  to  one's  own  friends,  or  to  one's  country,  or  to  the  whole 
race  of  mankind. 

IX.  This,  then,  is  the  part  which  remains  to  you  ;  this  is 
the  cause  which  you  have  before  you  ;  this  is  what  you  must 
now  labor  at, — to  settle  the  republic,  and  to  enjoy  it  yourself, 
as  the  first  of  its  citizens,  in  the  greatest  tranquillity  and 
peacefulness.  And  then,  if  you  please,  when  you  have  dis- 
charged the  obligations  which  you  owe  to  your  country,  and 
when  you  have  satisfied  nature  herself  with  the  devotion  of 
your  life,  then  you  may  say  that  you  have  lived  long  enough. 
For  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  very  word  "  long"  when  ap- 
plied to  what  has  an  end  ?  And  when  the  end  comes,  then 
nil  past  pleasure  is  to  be  accounted  as  nothing,  because  there 
is  none  to  come  after  it.  Although  that  spirit  of  yours  lias 
never  been  content  with  this  narrow  space  which  nature  has 
afforded  us  to  live  in  ;  but  has  always  been  inflamed  with  a 
desire  of  immortality.  Nor  is  this  to  be  considered  your  life 
which  is  contained  in  your  body  and  in  vour  breath.     That, — 

www  * 

that,  I  say,  is  your  life,  which  will  flourish  in  the  memory  of 
all  ages;  which  posterity  will  cherish;  which  eternity  itself 
will  always  preserve.  This  is  what  vou  must  be  subservient 
to;  it  is  to  this  that  you  ought  to  display  yourself:  which  in- 
deed has  long  .ago  had  many  actions  of  yours  to  admire,  and 
which  now  is  expecting  some  which  it  may  also  praise. 


FOR  M.  C    MARCELLUS  247 

Unquestionably,  posterity  will  stand  amazed  when  they  hear 
and  read  of  your  military  commands, — of  the  provinces  which 
you  have  added  to  the  empire, — of  the  Rhine,  of  the  ocean,  of 
the  Nile,  all  made  subject  to  us, — of  your  countless  battles,  of 
your  incredible  victories,  of  your  innumerable  monuments  and 
triumphs.  But  unless  this  city  is  now  securely  settled  by  your 
counsels  and  by  your  institutions,  your  name  will  indeed  be 
talked  about  very  extensively,  but  your  glory  will  have  no 
secure  abode,  no  sure  home  in  which  to  repose.  There  will 
be  also  among  those  who  shall  be  born  hereafter,  as  there  has 
been  among  us,  great  disputes,  when  some  with  their  praises 
will  extol  your  exploits  to  the  skies,  and  others,  perhaps,  will 
miss  something  in  them, — and  that,  too,  the  most  important 
thing  of  all, — unless  you  extinguish  the  conflagration  of  civil 
war  by  the  safety  of  the  country,  so  that  the  one  shall  ap- 
pear to  have  been  the  effect  of  destiny  and  the  other  the  work 
of  your  own  practical  wisdom.  Have  regard,  then,  to  those 
judges  wrho  will  judge  you  many  ages  afterward,  and  who 
will  very  likely  judge  you  more  honestly  than  we  can.  For 
their  judgment  will  be  unbiased  by  affection  or  by  ambitionj 
and  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  untainted  by  hatred  or  by 
envy.  And  even  if  it  will  be  incapable  of  affecting  you  at 
that  time  (which  is  the  false  opinion  held  by  some  men),  at 
all  events,  it  concerns  you  now  to  conduct  yourself  in  such  a 
manner  that  no  oblivion  shall  ever  be  able  to  obscure  your 
praises. 

X.  The  inclinations  of  the  citizens  have  been  very  diverse, 
and  their  opinions  much  distracted  ;  for  we  showed  our  va- 
riance, not  only  by  our  counsels  and  desires,  but  by  arms  and 
warlike  operations.  And  there  was  obscurity  in  the  designs  of, 
and  contention  between,  the  most  illustrious  generals:  many 
doubted  which  was  the  best  side ;  many,  what  was  expedient 
for  themselves;  many,  what  was  becoming;  some  even  felt 
uncertain  as  to  what  it  was  in  their  power  to  do.  The  re- 
public has  at  last  come  to  the  end  of  this  miserable  and  fatal 
war ;  that  man  has  been  victorious  who  has  not  allowed  his 
animosities  to  be  inflamed  by  good  fortune,  but  who  has  miti- 
gated them  by  the  goodness  of  his  disposition  ;  and  who  did 
not  consider  all  those  with  whom  he  was  displeased  deserving 
on  that  account  of  exile  or  of  death.  Arms  were  laid  aside 
by  some,  were  wrested  from  the  hands  of  others.  He  is  an 
ungrateful  and  an   unjust   citizen,  who,  when   released   from 


248  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  danger  of  .arms,  still  retains,  as  it  were,  an  armed  spirit, 
so  that  that  man  is  better  who  fell  in  battle,  who  spent  his 
life  in  the  cause.  For  that  which  seems  obstinacy  to  some 
people  may  appear  constancy  in  others.  ^But  now  all  dissen- 
sion is  crushed  by  the  arms  and  extinguished  by  the  justice 
of  the  conqueror;  it  only  remains  for  all  men  for  the  future 
to  be  animated  by  one  wish,  all  at  least  who  have  not  only 
any  wisdom  at  all,  but  who  are  at  all  in  their  senses.  Unless 
you,  O  Caius  Caesar,  continue  safe,  and  also  in  the  same  senti- 
ments as  you  have  displayed  on  previous  occasions,  and  on  this 
day  most  eminently,  we  can  not  be  safe  either.  Wherefore  we 
all — we  who  wish  this  constitution  and  these  things  around 
us  to  be  safe — exhort  and  entreat  you  to  take  care  of  your 
own  life,  to  consult  your  own  safety  ;  and  we  all  promise  to 
you  (that  I  may  say  also  on  behalf  of  others  what  I  feel  re- 
specting myself),  since  you  think  that  there  is  still  something 
concealed,  against  which  it  is  necessary  to  guard — we  promise 
you,  I  say,  not  only  our  vigilance  and  our  wariness  also  to  as- 
sist in  those  precautions,  but  we  promise  to  oppose  our  sides 
and  our  bodies  as  a  shield  against  every  danger  which  can 
threaten  you. 

XI.  But  let  my  speech  end  with  the  same  sentiment  as 
it  began.  We  all,  O  Caius  Caesar,  render  you  the  greatest 
thanks,  and  we  feel  even  deeper  gratitude  than  we  express ; 
for  all  feel  the  same  thing,  as  you  might  have  perceived  from 
the  entreaties  and  tears  of  all.  But  because  it  is  not  neces- 
sary for  all  of  them  to  stand  up  and  say  so,  the}'  wish  it  at  all 
events  that  by  me,  Avho  am  forced  in  some  degree  to  rise  and 
speak,  should  be  expressed  both  all  that  they  feel,  and  all  that 
is  becoming,  and  all  that  I  myself  consider  due  to  Marcus 
Marcellus,  who  is  thus  by  you  restored  to  this  order,  and  to 
the  Roman  people,  and  to  the  republic.  For  I  feel  that  all 
men  are  exulting,  not  in  the  safety  of  one  individual  alone, 
but  in  the  general  safety  of  all.  And  as  it  becomes  the 
greatest  possible  affection,  such  as  I  was  always  well  known 
by  all  men  to  have  toward  him,  so  that  I  scarcely  yielded  to 
Caius  Marcellus,  his  most  excellent  and  affectionate  brother, 
and  certainly  to  no  one  except  him, — that  love  for  him  which 
I  displayed  by  my  solicitude,  by  my  anxiety,  and  my  exertions, 
as  long  as  there  was  a  doubt  of  his  safety,  I  certainly  ought  to 
display  at  this  present  time,  now  that  I  am  relieved  from  my 
great  care  and  distress  and  misery  on  his  account- 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS.  249 

Therefore,  O  Cains  Caesar,  I  thank  you,  as  if, — though  J 
have  not  only  been  preserved  in  every  sort  of  manner,  but 
also  loaded  with  distinctions  by  you, — still,  by  this  action  of 
yours,  a  crowning  kindness  of  the  greatest  importance  was 
added  to  the  already  innumerable  benefits  which  you  have 
heaped  upon  me,  which  I  did  not  before  believe  were  capable 
of  any  augmentation.    ^ 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  DEFENSE    OF  QUINTUS 

LIGARIUS. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 


Quintus  Ligarius  was  a  Roman  knight,  who  had  been  one  of  the  lieuten- 
ants of  Considius,  the  proconsul  of  Africa,  and  one  of  Pompey's  parti- 
sans, and  as  such  had  borne  arms  against  Caesar  in  Africa,  on  which 
account  he  had  gone  into  voluntary  exile,  to  get  out  of  the  reach  of 
the  conqueror.  But  his  two  brothers  had  been  on  Caesar's  side,  and 
had  joined  Pansa  and  Cicero  in  interceding  with  Csssar  to  pardon  him. 
While  Csesar  was  hesitating,  Quintus  Tubero.  who  was  an  ancient  en- 
emy of  his,  knowing  that  Caesar  was  very  unwilling  to  restore  him  (for 
Lioarius  was  a  great  lover  of  liberty),  impeached  him  as  having  be- 
haved with  great  violence  in  the  prosecution  of  the  African  war  against 
Caesar,  who  privately  encouraged  this  proceeding,  and  ordered  the  ac- 
tion to  be  tried  in  the  forum,  where  he  sat  in  person  as  judge  to  decide 
it ;  and  so  determined  was  he  against  Ligarius,  that  he  is  said  to  have 
brought  the  sentence  of  condemnation  with  him  into  court,  already 
drawn  up  and  formally  signed  and  sealed.  But  he  was  prevailed  upon 
by  Cicero's  eloquence*  which  extorted  from  him  a  verdict  of  acquittal 
against  his  will ;  and  he  afterward  pardoned  Ligarius  and  allowed  him 
to  return  to  Rome. 

Ligarius  afterward  became  a  great  friend  of  Brutus,  and  joined  him  in 
the  conspiracy  against  Caesar. 

I.  It  is  a  new  crime,  and  one  never  heard  of  before  this 
day,  O  Caius  Cassar,  which  my  relation  Quintus  Tubero  has 
brought  before  you,  when  he  accuses  Quintus  Ligarius  with 
having  been  in  Africa ;  and  that  charge  Caius  Pansa,  a  man 
of  eminent  genius,  relying  perhaps  on  that  intimacy  with  you 
which  he  enjoys,  has  ventured  to  confess.  Therefore  I  do  not 
know  which  way  I  had  best  proceed.  For  I  had  come  pre- 
pared, as  you  did  not  know  that  fact  of  your  own  knowledge, 

L2 


250  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  could  not  have  heard  it  from  any  other  quarter,  to  abuse 
your  ignorance  in  order  to  further  the  safety  of  a  miserable 
man.  But,  however,  since  that  which  was  previously  un- 
known has  been  ferreted  out  by  the  diligence  of  his  enemy, 
we  must,  I  suppose,  confess  the  truth  ;  especially  as  my  dear 
friend  Caius  Pansa  has  so  acted  that  it  would  not  now  be  in 
my  power  to  deny  it.  Therefore,  abandoning  all  dispute  of 
the  fact,  all  nry  speech  must  be  addressed  to  your  mercy ;  by 
which  many  have  already  been  preserved,  having  besought  of 
you,  not  a  release  from  all  guilt,  but  pardon  from  admitted 
error. 

You,  therefore,  O  Tubero,  have  that  which  is  of  all  things 
most  desirable  for  a  prosecutor,  a  defendant  who  confesses  his 
fault ;  but  still,  one  who  confesses  it  only  so  far  as  he  admits 
that  he  was  of  the  same  party  as  you  yourself,  O  Tubero, 
were,  and  as  that  man  worthy  of  all  praise,  your  father,  also 
was.  Therefore  you  must  inevitably  confess  yourselves  also 
to  be  guilty,  before  you  can  find  fault  with  any  part  of  the 
conduct  of  Ligarius. 

Quintus  Ligarius,  then,  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  sus- 
picion of  war,  went  as  lieutenant  into  Africa  with  Caius 
Considius,  in  which  lieutenancy  he  made  himself  so  accepta- 
ble, both  to  our  citizens  there  and  to  our  allies,  that  Considi- 
us on  departing  from  the  province  could  not  have  given  satis- 
faction to  those  men  if  he  had  appointed  any  one  else  to  gov- 
ern it.  Therefore,  Quintus  Ligarius,  after  refusing  it  for  a 
long  time  without  effect,  took  upon  himself  the  government 
of  the  province  against  his  will.  And  while  peace  lasted,  he 
governed  it  in  such  a  manner,  that  his  integrity  and  good 
faith  were  most  acceptable  both  to  our  citizens  and  to  our 
allies.  On  a  sudden,  war  broke  out,  which  those  who  were 
in  Africa  heard  of  as  being  actually  raging  before  any  rumor 
of  its  preparation  had  reached  them.  But  when  they  did  hear 
of  it,  partly  out  of  an  inconsiderate  eagerness,  partly  out  of 
some  blind  apprehension,  they  sought  for  some  one  as  a  lead- 
er, at  first  only  with  the  object  of  securing  their  safety,  and 
afterward  with  that  of  indulging  their  party-spirit ;  while  Li- 
garius, keeping  his  eyes  fixed  on  home,  and  wishing  to  return 
to  his  friends,  would  not  allow  himself  to  be  implicated  in  any 
business  of  the  sort.  In  the  mean  time,  Publius  Attius  Varus, 
who  as  praetor  had  obtained  the  province  of  Africa,  came  to 
Itica.     Every  one  immediately  flocked  to  him,  and  he  seized 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS  251 

on  the  government  with  no  ordinary  eagerness,  if  that  may 
be  called  government  which  was  conferred  on  him.  while  a 
private  individual,  by  the  clamor  of  an  ignorant  mob,  without 
the  sanction  of  any  public  council.  Therefore,  Ligarius,  who 
was  anxious  to  avoid  being  mixed  up  in  any  transactions  of 
the  sort,  remained  quiet  for  some  time  on  the  arrival  of  Varus. 

II.  Up  to  this  point,  O  Caius  Caesar,  Quintus  Ligarius  is 
free  from  all  blame.  He  left  his  home,  not  only  not  for  the 
purpose  of  joining  in  any  war,  but  when  there  was  not  even 
the  slightest  suspicion  of  war.  Having  gone  as  lieutenant  in 
time  of  peace,  he  behaved  himself  in  a  most  peaceable  prov- 
ince in  such  a  manner,  that  it  wished  that  peace  might  last 
forever.  Beyond  all  question,  his  departure  from  Rome  with 
such  an  object  ouglv;  not  to  be  and  can  not  be  offensive  to 
you.  Was,  then,  hijj  remaining  there  offensive?  Much  less. 
For  if  it  was  no  discreditable  inclination  that  led  to  his  going 
thither,  it  was  even  an  honorable  necessity  which  compelled 
him  to  remain.  B(  th  these  times,  then,  are  free  from  all 
fault — the  time  when  he  first  Vent  as  lieutenant,  and  the 
time  when,  having  been  demanded  by  the  province,  he  was 
appointed  governor  of  Africa. 

There  is  a  third  time :  tl^t  during  which  he  remained  in 
Africa  after  the  arrival  of  Varus  ;  and  if  that  is  at  all  criminal, 
the  crime  is  one  of  necessity,  not  of  inclination.  Would  he, 
if  he  could  possibly  have  escaped  thence  by  any  means  what- 
ever, would  he  rather  have  been  at  Utica  than  at  Rome, — 
with  Publius  Attius,  in  preference  to  his  own  most  united 
brothers?  would  he  rather  have  been  among  strangers,  than 
with  his  own  friends  ?  When  his  lieutenancy  itself  had  been 
full  of  regret  and  anxietv  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  af- 
fection  subsisting  between  him  and  his  brothers,  could  he  pos- 
sibly remain  there  with  any  equanimity  when  separated  from 
those  brothers  by  the  discord  of  war  ? 

You  have,  therefore,  O  Caesar,  no  sign  as  yet  of  the  affec- 
tions of  Quintus  Ligarius  being  alienated  from  you.  And  ob- 
serve, I  entreat  you,  with  what  good  faith  I  am  defending  his 
cause.  I  am  betraying  my  own  by  so  doing.  O  the  admira- 
ble clemency,  deserving  to  be  celebrated  by  all  possible  praise, 
and  publicity,  and  writings,  and  monuments !  Marcus  Cicero 
is  urgino-  in  Ligarius' s  defense  before  vou,  that  the  inclinations 
of  another  were  npt  the  same  as  he  admits  his  own  to  have 
been  ;  nor  does  he  fear  your  silent  thoughts,  nor  is  he  under 


2o2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

any  apprehension  as  to  what,  while  you  are  hearing  of  the 
conduct  of  another,  may  occur  to  you  respecting  his  own. 

III.  See  how  entirely  free  from  fear  I  am.  See  how  brill- 
iantly the  light  of  your  liberality  and  wisdom  rises  upon  me 
while  speaking  before  you  !  As  far  as  I  can,  I  will  lift  up  my 
voice  so  that  the  Roman  people  may  hear  me.  When  the  war 
began,  O  Caesar,  when  it  was  even  very  greatly  advanced  to- 
ward its  end,  I,  though  compelled  by  no  extraneous  force,  of 
my  own  free  judgment  and  inclination  went  to  join  that  party 
which  had  taken  up  arms  against  you.  Before  whom  now 
am  I  saying  this?  Forsooth,  before  the  man  who,  though  he 
was  acquainted  with  this,  nevertheless  restored  me  to  the  re- 
public before  he  saw  me ;  who  sent  letters  to  me  from  Egypt, 
to  desire  me  to  behave  as  I  always  had  behaved  ;  who,  when 
he  himself  might  have  been  the  sole  leader  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple in  the  whole  empire,  still  permitted  me  to  be  the  other; 
by  whose  gift  it  was  (this  very  Caius  Pansa,  who  is  here  pres- 
ent, bringing  me  the  news)  that  I  retained  the  fasces  wreathed 
with  laurel,  as  long  as  I  thought  it  becoming  to  retain  them 
at  all,  and  who  would  not  have  considered  that  he  was  giving 
me  safety  at  all,  if  he  did  not  give  it  me  without  my  being 
iStripped  of  any  of  my  previous  distinctions. 

Observe,  I  pray  you,  O  Tubero,  how  I,  who  do  not  hesitate 
to  speak  of  my  own  conduct,  do  not  venture  to  make  any  con- 
fession with  respect  to  Ligarius :  and  I  have  said  thus  much 
respecting  myself,  to  induce  Tubero  to  excuse  me  when  I  say 
the  same  things  of  him.  For  I  look  in  the  forum  on  his  in- 
dustry and  desire  of  glory,  either  on  account  of  the  nearness 
of  our  relationship,  or  because  I  am  delighted  with  his  genius 
<ind  with  his  earnestness,  or  because  I  think  that  the  praises 
of  a  young  man  who  is  my  relative  redound  somewhat  to  my 
own  credit.  But  I  ask  this — Who  is  it  who  thinks  that  it 
was  any  crime  in  Ligarius  to  have  been  in  Africa ?  Why,  the 
very  man  who  himself  also  wished  to  be  in  Africa,  and  who 
complains  that  he  was  prevented  by  Ligarius  from  going  there, 
and  who  certainly  wras  in  arms  and  fought  against  Caesar. 
For,  O  Tubero,  what  was  that  drawn  sword  of  yours  doing  in 
the  battle  of  Pharsalia ?  against  whose  side  was  that  sword- 
point  of  yours  aimed?  What  was  the  feeling  with  which  you 
took  up  arms'?  What  was  your  intention  ?  Where  were 
your  eyes?  your  hands?  your  eagerness  of  mind?  What 
were  you  desirous  of?     What  were  you  wishing  for?     I  am 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS.  253 

pressing  you  too  hard.  The  young  man  appears  to  be  moved. 
I  will  return  to  myself.  I  also  was  in  arms  in  the  same 
camp. 

IV.  But  what  other  object  had  we,  O  Tubero,  except  to  be 
able  to  do  what  this  man  can  do  now  ?  Shall,  then,  O  Caesar, 
the  speech  of  those  men  spur  you  on  to  deeds  of  cruelty,  whose 
impunity  is  the  great  glory  of  your  clemency?  And  in  this 
cause,  in  truth,  O  Tubero,  I  am  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  discern 
your  usual  prudence,  but  much  more  so  to  see  the  sagacity  of 
your  father,  since  that  man,  eminent  both  for  genius  and  eru- 
dition, did  not  perceive  what  sort  of  case  this  was.  For  if  he 
had  perceived  it,  he  would,  I  doubt  not,  have  preferred  that 
you  should  conduct  it  in  any  manner  in  the  world,  rather  than 
as  you  did. 

You  are  accusing  one  who  confesses  the  facts  which  you 
allege  against  him.     That  is  not  enough.     You  are  accusing 

CD  O  C?  CD 

one  who  has  a  case,  as  I  say,  better  than  your  own,  or,  as 
you  yourself  allow,  at  least  as  good  as  yours.  This  is  strange 
enough ;  but  what  I  am  about  to  say  is  a  perfect  miracle. 
That  accusation  of  yours  does  not  tend  to  the  point  of  pro- 
curing the  condemnation  of  Quintus  Ligarius,  but  of  causing 
his  death.  And  this  is  an  object  which  no  Roman  citizen 
has  ever  pursued  before  you.  That  way  of  acting  is  quite 
foreign.  It  is  the  hatred  of  fickle  Greeks  or  of  savage  barba- 
rians that  is  usually  excited  to  the  pitch  of  thirsting  for  blood. 
For  what  else  is  your  object?  To  prevent  him  from  being 
at  Rome?  To  deprive  him  of  his  country?  To  hinder  him 
from  living  with  his  excellent  brothers,  with  this  Titus  Broc- 
chus,  whom  you  see  in  court,  his  uncle,  or  with  Brocchus's 
ion,  his  cousin  ?  To  prevent  his  appearing  in  his  country  ? 
Is  that  it?  Can  he  be  more  deprived  of  all  these  things  than 
he  is  already  ?  He  is  prevented  from  approaching  Italy  ;  he 
is  banished.  You,  therefore,  do  not  wish  to  deprive  him  of 
his  country,  of  which  he  already  is  deprived,  but  of  his  life. 

But  even  in  the  time  of  that  dictator  who  punished  with 
death  every  one  whom  he  disliked,  no  one  ever  proceeded  in 
that  manner  to  accomplish  such  an  end.  He  himself  ordered 
men  to  be  slain,  without  any  one  asking  him  ;  he  even  invited 
men  to  slay  them  by  rewards ;  and  that  cruelty  of  his  was 
avenged  some  years  afterward  by  this  self-same  man  whom 
you  now  wish  to  become  cruel ! 

V.  "  But  I  am  not  asking  for  his  death,"  you  will  say.     1 


254  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

think  indeed  that  you  do  not  intend  to  do  so,  O  Tubero.  For 
I  know  you,  I  know  your  father,  I  know  your  birth  and  your 
name,  and  the  pursuits  of  your  race  and  family ;  your  love  of 
virtue,  and  civilization,  and  learning ;  your  many  admirable 
qualities, — all  are  known  to  me.  Therefore  1  know  for  a  cer- 
tainty that  you  are  not  thirsting  for  blood,  but  you  give  no 
heed  to  the  effect  of  your  prosecution.  For  the  transaction 
has  this  tendency,  to  make  you  seem  not  contented  with  that 
punishment  under  which  Quintus  Ligarius  is  at  present  suf- 
fering. What  further  punishment  then  is  there  but  death  ? 
For  if  he  be  in  exile,  as  he  is,  what  more  do  you  require? 
That  he  may  never  be  pardoned?  But  this  is  much  more 
bitter  and  much  harsher.  That  which  we  begged  for  at  his 
house  with  prayers  and  tears,  throwing  ourselves  at  his  feet, 
trusting  not  so  much  to  the  strength  of  our  cause  as  to  his 
humanity,  will  you  now  struggle  to  prevent  our  obtaining? 
Will  you  interrupt  our  weeping'?  and  will  you  forbid  us  to 
speak,  lying  at  his  feet,  with  the  voice  of  suppliants  ?  If, 
when  we  were  doing  this  at  his  house,  as  we  did,  and  as  I 
hope  we  did  not  do  in  vain,  you  had  all  on  a  sudden  burst  in, 
and  had  begun  to  cry  out,  "  O  Cains  Caesar,  beware  how  you 
pardon,  beware  how  you  pity  brothers  entreating  you  for  the 
safety  of  their  brother,"  would  you  not  have  renounced  all 
humanity  by  such  conduct?  How  much  harder  is  this,  for 
you  to  oppose  in  the  forum  what  we  begged  of  him  in  his  own 
house !  and  while  numbers  are  in  this  distress,  to  take  away 
from  them  the  refuge  which  they  might  find  in  his  clemency ! 

I  will  speak  plainly,  O  Caius  Caesar,  what  I  feel.  If  in  this 
splendid  fortune  of  yours  your  lenity  had  not  been  as  great  as 
you  of  your  own  accord — of  your  own  accord,  I  say  (I  know 
well  what  I  am  saying),  make  it,  that  victory  of  yours  would 
have  been  pregnant  witjj  the  bitterest  grief  to  the  state.  For 
how  many  of  the  conquering  party  must  have  been  found  who 
would  have  wished  you  to  be  cruel,  when  some  of  even  the 
conquered  party  are  found  to  wish  it !  how  many  who,  wish- 
ing no  one  to  be  pardoned  by  you,  would  have  thrown  obsta- 
cles in  the  way  of  your  clemency,  when  even  those  men  whom 
you  yourself  have  pardoned  are  unwilling  that  you  should  be 
merciful  to  others ! 

But  if  we  could  prove  to  Caesar  that  Ligarius  was  actually 
not  in  Africa  at  all,  if  we  wished  to  save  an  unfortunate  citi- 
zen by  an   honorable  and  merciful  falsehood ;  still  it  would 


FOR  Q    LIGARIUS.  255 

not  be  the  act  of  a  man,  in  a  ease  of  such  clanger  and  peril  to 
a  fellow-citizen,  to  contradict  and  refute  our  falsehood ;  and 
if  it  were  decent  for  any  one  to  do  so,  it  would  certainly  not 
be  so  for  one  who  had  himself  been  in  the  same  case  and  con- 
dition. But,  however,  it  is  one  thing  to  be  unwilling  that 
Caesar  should  make  a  mistake,  and  another  to  be  unwilling 
that  he  should  be  merciful.  Then  you  would  say,  "  Beware, 
O  Caesar,  of  believing  all  this — Ligarius  was  in  Africa.  He 
did  bear  arms  against  you."  But  now  what  is  it  that  you 
say?  "Take  care  you  do  not  pardon  him."  This  is  not  the 
language  of  a  man ;  but  he  who  uses  it  to  you,  O  Caius  Cae- 
sar, will  find  it  an  easier  matter  to  abjure  his  own  humanity 
than  to  strip  you  of  yours. 

VI.  And  the  first  beginning,  and  the  first  proposition  of 
Tubero,  I  imagine,  was  this ;  that  he  intended  to  speak  of 
the  wickedness  of  Quintus  Ligarius.  I  make  no  doubt  that 
you  wondered  how  it  was  that  no  one  made  tins  statement 
respecting  some  one  else,  or  how  it  was  that  he  made  it  who 
had  been  in  the  same  condition  himself,  or  what  new  crime  it 
was  which  he  was  bringing  forward.  Do  you  call  that  wick- 
edness, Tubero '?  "Why  so  1  For  that  cause  has  not  as  yet 
been  attacked  by  that  name.  Some  call  it  mistake  ;  some  call 
it  fear ;  those  who  give  it  a  harder  name  term  it  hope,  ambi- 
tion, hatred,  obstinacy ;  those  who  use  the  hardest  language 
style  it  rashness.  But  up  to  this  time  no  one  except  you  has 
ever  called  it  wickedness.  My  own  opinion  is,  if  any  one 
seeks  for  a  proper  and  accurate  name  for  our  misfortune,  that 
some  disaster  sent  by  destiny  descended  upon  and  occupied 
the  improvident  minds  of  men ;  so  that  no  one  ought  to  won- 
der that  human  counsels  were  overruled  by  divine  necessity. 

Let  it  be  allowed  to  us  to  be  miserable,  although  that  we 
can  not  be  when  this  man  is  our  conqueror.  But  I  am  not 
speaking  of  those  who  have  perished.  Grant  that  they  were 
ambitious,  that  they  were  angry,  that  they  were  obstinate  men  ; 
but  still  let  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  for  he  is  dead,  and  let  many 
others  wTith  him,  be  free  from  the  imputation  of  wickedness, 
of  insanity,  of  parricide.  When  did  any  one  hear  such  an  ex- 
pression from  you,  O  Caius  Caesar?  or  what  other  object  did 
your  arms  propose  to  themselves  except  the  repelling  insult 
from  yourself?  What  was  it  that  was  accomplished  by  that 
invincible  army  of  yours,  beyond  the  preservation  of  its  own 
rights,  and  of  your  dignity  ?    What  *?  when  you  were  anxious 


256  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

for  peace,  was  it  }rour  object  to  be  able  to  come  to  terms  of 
agreement  with  the  wicked,  or  with  the  virtuous  part  of  the 
citizens  ?  To  me,  of  a  truth,  O  Caesar*  your  services  toward 
me,  immense  as  they  are,  would  certainly  not  appear  so  great, 
if  I  thought  that  I  had  been  preserved  by  you  while  you  con- 
sidered me  a  wicked  man.  And  how  could  you  possibly  have 
deserved  well  of  the  republic,  if  you  had  wished  so  many  wick- 
ed men  to  remain  with  all  their  dignity  unimpaired?  Orig- 
inally, O  Caesar,  you  considered  that  as  a  secession,  not  as  a 
declaration  of  war ;  you  considered  it  as  a  demonstration  not 
of  hostile  hatred,  but  of  civil  dissension,  in  which  both  parties 
desired  the  safety  of  the  republic,  but  some  departed  from 
measures  calculated  for  the  general  welfare  out  of  an  error  of 
judgment,  and  some  out  of  party  spirit.  The  dignity  of  the 
leaders  was  nearly  on  a  par ;  but  that  of  those  who  followed 
them  was  perhaps  not  quite  equal ;  the  justice  of  the  cause, 
too,  was  at  that  time  doubtful,  because  there  was  something 
on  each  side  which  deserved  to  be  approved  of;  but  now 
that  is  unquestionably  entitled  to  be  thought  the  better  cause 
which  even  the  gods  assisted.  But  now  that  your  clemency 
is  known,  who  is  there  who  does  not  think  well  of  that  vic- 
tory, in  which  no  one  has  fallen  except  those  who  fell  with 
arms  in  their  hands? 

VII."  But  to  say  no  more  of  the  general  question,  let  us 
come  to  our  own  individual  case.  Which  do  you  think  was 
easiest,  O  Tubero,  for  Ligarius  to  depart  from  Africa,  or  for 
you  to  abstain  from  coming  into  Africa  ?  "  Could  we  so  ab- 
stain," you  will  say,  "  after  the  senate  had  voted  that  we 
should  do  so  ?"  If  you  ask  me,  I  say,  certainly  not.  But 
L till  the  same  senate  had  appointed  Ligarius  lieutenant.  And 
he  obeyed  them  at  a  time  when  men  were  forced  to  obey  tiie 
senate ;  but  you  obeyed  at  a  time  when  no  one  obeyed  them 
who  did  not  like  it.  Do  I  then  find  fault  with  you  ?  By  no 
means  ; — for  a  man  of  your  family,  of  your  name,  of  your 
race,  of  your  hereditary  principles,  could  not  act  otherwise. 
But  I  do  not  grant"  that  you  have  a  right  to  reprove  in  others 
the  very  same  conduct  which  you  boast  of  in  yourselves. 

Tubero's  lot  was  drawn  in  pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the 
senate  when  he  himself  was  not  present,  when  he  was  even 
hindered  by  sickness  from  being  present.  He  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  excuse  himself.  1  know  all  this  from  the  great 
intimacy  which  exists  between  Lucius  Tubero  and  myself: 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS.  257 

we  were  brought  up  together,  in  our  campaigns  we  were 
comrades,  afterward  we  became  connected  by  marriage,  and 
throughout  the  whole  of  our  lives,  in  short,  we  have  been 
friends ;  it  has  been,  moreover,  a  great  bond  between  us,  that 
we  have  been  devoted  to  the  same  studies.  I  know,  there- 
fore, that  Tubero  wished  to  remain  at  home ;  but  there  was 
a  person  who  contrived  matters  in  such  a  way,  who  put  forth 
that  most  holy  name  of  the  republic  so  artfully,  that  even 
had  his  sentiments  been  different  from  what  they  were,  he 
would  not  have  been  able  to  support  the  weight  of  his  lan- 
guage. He  submitted  to  the  authority  of  a  most  distinguished 
man,  or,  I  should  rather  say,  he  obeyed  him.  He  went  off  at 
the  same  time  with  those  men  who  were  already  embarked  in 
the  same  cause,  but  he  made  his  journey  slower  than  they. 
Therefore,  he  arrived  in  Africa  when  it  was  already  occu- 
pied ;  and  from  this  it  is  that  the  charge  against  Ligarius,  or 
rather  the  enmity  against  him,  has  its  rise.  For  if  it  be  a 
crime  in  him  to  have  wished  to  hinder  you,  it  is  a  no  less  se- 
rious one  for  you  to  have  wished  to  obtain  Africa,  the  citadel 
of  all  the  provinces,  a  land  created  for  the  purpose  of  waging 
war  against  this  city,  than  for  somebody  else  to  have  preferred 
obtaining  it  himself, — and  that  somebody  was  not  Ligarius. 
Varus  kept  saying,  that  he  had  the  command  there  ;  the  fas- 
ces he  certainly  had.  But  however  the  case,  as  to  that  part 
of  it,  may  be,  what  weight  is  there,  O  Tubero,  in  this  com- 
plaint of  yours?  "We  were  admitted  into  the  province." 
Well,  suppose  you  had  been  admitted  ?  was  it  your  object  to 
deliver  it  up  to  Caesar,  or  to  hold  it  against  Caesar  ? 

VIII.  See,  O  Caesar,  what  license,  or  rather  what  audacity, 
your  liberality  gives  us.  If  Tubero  replies  that  his  father 
would  have  given  up  to  you  that  province  to  which  the  senate 
and  the  lot  which  he  drew  had  sent  him,  I  will  not  hesitate 
in  severe  language  to  reprove  that  design  of  his  before  you 
yourself,  to  whose  advantage  it  was  that  he  should  do" so. 
For  even  if  the  action  had  been  an  acceptable  one  to  you,  it 
would  not  have  been  thought  an  honest  one  by  you.  But, 
however,  all  these  topics  I  will  pass  over,  not  so  much  for  fear 
of  offending  your  most  patient  ears,  as  because  that  I  do  not 
wish  that  Tubero  should  appear  to  have  been  likely  to  do  what 
he  never  thought  of. 

You  two  came,  then,  into  the  province  of  Africa, — the 
province  of  all  others  that  was  most  hostile  to  the  views  of 


258  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this  victorious  party,  in  which  there  was  a  most  powerful 
king,  an  enemy  to  this  cause,  and  in  which  the  inclinations 
of  a  large  and  powerful  body  of  Roman  settlers  were  entirely 
adverse  to  it.  I  ask  what  you  intended  to  do  !  Though  I  do 
not  really  doubt  what  you  intended  to  do,  when  I  see  what 
you  have  done.  You  were  forbidden  to  set  foot  in  your  prov- 
ince, and  forbidden,  as  you  state  yourselves,  with  the  greatest 
insults.  How  did  you  bear  that?  To  whom  did  you  carry 
your  complaints  of  the  insults  which  you  had  received  ?  Why, 
to  that  man  whose  authority  you  had  followed  when  you  came 
to  join  his  party  in  the  war.  If  it  had  been  in  Cajsar's  cause 
that  you  were  coming  to  the  province,  unquestionably,  when 
excluded  from  the  province,  it  was  to  him  that  you  would 
have  gone.  But  you  came  to  Pompeius.  What  is  the  mean- 
ing, then,  of  this  complaint  which  you  now  urge  before  Caesar, 
when  you  accuse  that  man  by  whom  you  complain  that  you 
were  prevented  from  waging  war  against  Caesar?  And  as  to 
this  part  of  the  business  you  may  boast,  for  all  I  care,  even 
though  it  will  be  falsely,  that  you  would  have  given  the  prov- 
ince up  to  Caesar,  even  if  you  had  been  forbidden  by  Varus, 
and  by  some  others.  But  I  will  confess  that  the  fault  was 
all  Ligarius's,  who  deprived  you  of  an  opportunity  of  acquiring 
so  much  glory. 

IX.   But  observe,  I  pray  you,  O  Caius  Caesar,  the  consist- 
ency of  that  most  accomplished  man,  Lucius  Tubero,  which 
even  though  I  thought  as  highly  of  it  as  I  do,  I  still  would 
not  mention,  if  I  were  not  aware  that  that  is  a  virtue  which 
you  are  in  the  habit  of  praising  as  much  as  any.     Where,  then, 
was  there  ever  an  example  of  such  great  consistency  in  any 
man?      Consistency,  do  I  say?      I  do  not   know  whether  I 
might   not   more   fitly  call  it   patience.      For  how  few  men 
would  have  acted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  return  to  that  same 
party  by  which  he  had  been  rejected  in  a  time  of  civil  dissen- 
sion, and  rejected  even  with  cruelty !      That  is  the  act  of  a 
great  mind,  and  of  a  man  whom  no  contumely,  no  violence, 
and  no  danger  can  turn  from  a  side  which  he  has  espoused, 
and  from  an  opinion  which  he  has  adopted.      Grant  that  in 
all  other  respects  Tubero  and  Varus  were  on   a  par,  as  to 
honor,  that  is,  and  nobleness  of  birth,  and  respectability,  and 
genius. — which,  however,  was  by  no  means  the  ease;  at  all 
events,  Tubero  had  this  great   advantage,  that   he  had  come 
to  his  own  province  with  a  legitimate  command,  in  pur6U^ 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS.  259 

mice  of  a  resolution  of  the  senate.  When  he  was  prevented 
from  entering  it,  he  did  not  betake  himself  to  Caesar,  lest  he 
should  appear  to  be  in  a  passion, — he  did  not  go  home,  lest 
he  should  be  thought  inactive, — he  did  not  go  into  any  other 
district,  lest  he  might  seem  to  condemn  that  cause  which  he 
had  espoused.  He  came  into  Macedonia  to  the  camp  of  Cnaeus 
Pompeius,  to  join  that  very  party  by  whom  he  had  been  re- 
pulsed with  every  circumstance  of  insult. 

What  ?  when  that  affair  had  had  no  effect  on  the  mind  of 
the  man  to  whom  you  came,  you  behaved,  after  that,  with  a 
more  languid  zeal,  I  suppose,  in  his  cause  ?  You  only  staid 
in  some  garrison  ?  But  your  affections  were  alienated  from 
his  cause  ?  Or  were  we  all,  as  is  the  case  in  a  civil  war,  and 
not  more  with  respect  to  you  two,  than  with  respect  to  oth- 
ers,— were  we  all  wholly  occupied  with  a  desire  of  victory  % 
I,  indeed,  was  at  all  times  an  advocate  of  peace,  but  that  time 
1  was  too  late.  For  it  was  the  part  of  a  madman  to  think 
of  peace  when  he  saw  the  hostile  army  in  battle  array.  We 
all,  every  one  of  us,  I  say,  were  eager  for  victory ;  you  most 
especially,  as  you  had  come  into  a  place  where  you  must  inev- 
itably perish  if  your  side  were  not  victorious.  Although,  as 
the  result  now  turns  out,  I  make  no  doubt  that  you  consider 
your  present  safety  preferable  to  what  would  have  been  the 
consequences  of  victory. 

X.  I  would  not  say  these  things,  O  Tubero,  if  you  had 
any  reason  to  repent  of  your  consistency,  or  Caesar  of  his 
kindness.  I  ask  now  whether  you  are  seeking  to  avenge 
your  own  injuries,  or  those  of  the  republic?  If  those  of  the 
republic,  what  reply  can  you  make  with  respect  to  your  per- 
severance in  the  cause  of  that  other  party?  If  your  own, 
take  care  that  you  are  not  making  a  great  mistake  in  think- 
ing that  Caesar  will  be  angry  with  your  enemies,  after  he  has 
pardoned  his  own. 

Do  I,  then,  appear  to  you,  O  Caesar,  to  be  occupied  in  the 
cause  of  Ligarius  1  Do  I  appear  to  be  speaking  of  his  con- 
duct ?  In  whatever  I  have  said,  I  have  endeavored  to  refer 
eveiy  thing  to  the  leading  idea  of  your  humanity,  or  clemency, 
or  mercy,  whichever  may  be  its  most  proper  name.  I  have, 
indeed,  O  Caius  Caesar,  pleaded  many  causes  with  you,  while 
your  pursuit  of  honors  detained  you  in  the  forum  ;  but  cer- 
tainly I  never  pleaded  in  this  way,  "  Pardon  my  client,  O 
judges ;  he  has  erred,  he  has  tripped,  he  did  not  think.  *  *  * 


260  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

If  ever  hereafter  *  *  *"  This  is  the  sort  of  way  in  which 
one  pleads  with  a  parent ;  to  judges  one  says,  "  He  never  did 
it,  he  never  thought  of  it,  the  witnesses  are  false,  the  accusa- 
tion is  false."  Say,  O  Caesar,  that  you  are  sitting  as  judge  on 
the  conduct  of  Ligarius.  Ask  me  in  what  garrisons  he  was.  I 
make  no  reply.  1  do  not  even  adduce  these  arguments,  which, 
perhaps,  might  have  weight  even  with  a  judge, — "He  went  as 
a  lieutenant  before  the  war  broke  out ;  he  was  left  there  in 
time  of  peace ;  he  was  overtaken  by  the  war ;  in  the  war  it- 
self he  was  not  cruel ;  he  was  in  disposition  and  zeal  wholly 
yours."  This  is  the  way  in  which  men  are  in  the  habit  of 
pleading  before  a  judge.  But  I  am  addressing  a  parent.  "I 
have  erred ;  I  have  acted  rashly ;  I  repent ;  I  flee  to  your 
clemency ;  I  beg  pardon  for  my  fault ;  I  entreat  you  to  par- 
don me."  If  no  one  has  gained  such  indulgence  from  you,  it 
is  an  arrogant  address.  But  if  many  have,  then  do  you  give 
us  assistance  who  have  already  given  us  hope.  Is  it  possible 
that  Ligarius  should  have  no  reason  for  hope,  when  I  am  al- 
lowed to  approach  you  even  for  the  purpose  of  entreating 
mercy  for  another?  Although  the  hope  which  we  entertain 
in  this  cause  does  not  rest  upon  this  oration  of  mine,  nor  on 
the  zeal  of  those  who  entreat  you  for  Ligarius,  intimate  friends 
of  your  own. 

XI.  For  I  have  seen  and  known  what  it  was  that  you 
mainly  considered  when  many  men  were  exerting  themselves 
for  any  one's  safety  ;  I  have  seen  that  the  causes  of  those  who 
were  entreating  you  had  more  weight  with  you  than  the  per- 
sons of  the  advocates,  and  that  you  considered,  not  how  much 
the  man  who  was  entreating  you  was  your  friend,  but  how 
much  he  was  the  friend  of  him  for  whom  he  was  exerting 
himself.  Therefore,  you  grant  your  friends  so  many  favors, 
that  they  who  enjoy  your  liberality  appear  to  me  sometimes  to 
be  happier  than  you  yourself  who  give  them  so  much.  But, 
however,  I  see,  as  I  said  before,  that  the  causes  of  those  who 
entreat  your  mercy  have  more  weight  with  you  than  the  en- 
treaties themselves;  and  that  you  are  most  moved  by  those 
men  whose  grief,  which  they  display  in  their  petitions  to  you, 
is  the  most  genuine. 

In  preserving  Quintus  Ligarius  you  will  do  what  will  be 
acceptable  to  numbers  of  your  intimate  friends;  but,  I  entreat 
you,  give  weight  to  the  considerations  which  are  accustomed 
to  influence  you.     I  can  mention  to  you  most  brave  men,  8a- 


FOR  Q.  LIGARIUS.  261 

bines,  men  most  highly  esteemed  by  you ;  and  the  whole  of 
the  Sabine  district,  the  flower  of  Italy  and  the  chief  strength 
of  the  republic.  You  are  well  acquainted  with  the  men.  Ob- 
serve the  sadness  and  grief  of  all  these  men.  You  see  vour- 
self  the  tears  and  mourning  attire  of  Titus  Brocchus,  who  is 
here  present,  and  I  am  in  no  doubt  as  to  what  your  opinion 
of  him  is  :  you  sec  the  grief  of  his  son.  Why  need  I  speak  of 
the  brothers  of  Ligarius  ?  Do  not  fancy,  O  Ca?sar,  that  we 
are  pleading  for  the  life  of  one  individual  only.  You  must 
either  retain  all  three  of  the  Ligarii  in  the  city,  or  banish 
them  all  three  from  the  city.  Any  exile  is  more  desirable 
for  them  than  their  own  country,  their  own  house,  and  their 
own  household  gods  will  be,  if  this  their  brother  is  banished 
by  himself.  If  they  act  as  brothers  should, — if  they  behave 
with  affection  and  with  genuine  grief,  then  let  their  tears, 
their  affection,  and  their  relationship  as  brothers  move  you. 
Let  that  expression  of  yours  have  weight  now  which  gained 
the  victory;  for  we  heard  that  you  said  that  we  thought  all 
men  our  enemies,  but  those  who  were  with  us ;  but  that  you 
considered  all  men  as  your  friends  who  were  not  actually  ar- 
rayed against  you.  Do  you  see,  then,  this  most  respectable 
band ;  do  you  see  the  whole  house  of  the  Brocchi  here  pres- 
ent, and  Lucius  Marcius,  and  Caius  Caesetius,  and  Lucius  Cor- 
fidius,  and  all  these  Roman  knights,  who  are  present  here  in 
mourning  garments, — men  who  are  not  only  well  known  to, 
but  highly  esteemed  by  you  ?  They  all  were  with  you  then  ; 
and  we  were  full  of  anger  against  them, — we  were  attacking 
them ;  some  even  personally  threatened  them.  Preserve,  there- 
fore, their  friends  to  your  friends ;  so  that,  like  every  thing  else 
which  has  been  said  by  you,  this,  too,  may  be  found  to  be 
Strictly  true. 

XII.  But  if  you  were  able  to  look  into  the  hearts  of  the 
Ligarii,  so  as  to  see  the  perfect  unanimity  which  subsists  be- 
tween them,  you  would  think  that  all  the  brothers  were  on 
your  side.  Can  any  one  entertain  a  doubt  that,  if  Quintus 
Ligarius  had  been  able  to  be  in  Italy,  he  would  also  have 
adopted  the  same  opinions  as  his  brothers  adopted  %  Who  is 
there  who  is  not  acquainted  with  the  harmony  existing  be- 
tween them,  united  and  molten  together,  as  I  may  say,  by 
their  nearness  of  age  to  one  another?  Who  does  not  feel 
that  any  thing  in  the  world  was  more  likely  than  that  these 
brothers  should  adopt  different  opinions  and  embrace  differ- 


262  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ent  parties  !  By  inclination,  therefore,  they  were  all  with  you. 
Owing  to  the  necessity  of  the  times,  one  was  separated  from 
you  ;  but  he,  even  if  he  had  done  what  he  did  deliberately, 
would  still  have  been  only  like  those  men  whom,  neverthe- 
less, you  have  shown  yourself  desirous  to  save. 

However,  grant  that  he  went  up  of  his  own  accord  to  the 
war,  and  that  he  departed,  not  only  from  you,  but  also  from 
his  brothers.  These  friends  of  your  own  entreat  you  to  par- 
don him.  I,  indeed,  at  the  time  when  I  was  present  at,  and 
mixed  up  in,  all  your  affairs,  remember  well  what  was  the  be- 
havior of  Titus  Ligarius  at  that  time,  when  he  was  city  quaes- 
tor, with  reference  to  you  and  your  dignity.  But  it  is  of  no 
importance  for  me  to  remember  this.  I  hope  that  you,  too, 
who  are  not  in  the  habit  of  forgetting  any  thing,  except  the 
injuries  which  have  been  done  to  you,  since  it  is  a  part  of  your 
character,  a  part  of  your  natural  disposition,  to  do  so,  while 
you  are  thinking  of  the  manner  in  which  he  conducted  him- 
self1 in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  quaestor,  and  while  you 
remember,  too,  how  some  other  quaestors  behaved,—-!  hope,  I 
say,  that  you  will  also  recollect  this. 

This  Titus  Ligarius,  then,  who  had  at  that  time  no  other 
object  except  to  induce  you  to  think  him  attached  to  your 
interests,  and  a  virtuous  man  also  (for  he  could  never  foresee 
these  present  circumstances),  now  as  a  suppliant  begs  the  safe- 
ty of  his  brother  from  you.  And  when,  urged  by  the  recol- 
lection of  his  devotion  to  you,  you  have  granted  that  safety  to 
these  men,  you  will  by  so  doing  have  made  a  present  of  three 
most. virtuous  and  upright  brothers,  not  only  to  themselves, 
nor  to  these  men,  numerous  and  respectable  as  they  are,  nor 
to  us  who  are  their  intimate  friends,  but  also  to  the  republic. 
That,  therefore,  which  in  the  case  of  that  most  noble  and  most 
illustrious  man,  Marcus  Marcellus,  you  lately  did  in  the  sen- 
ate-house, do  now  also  in  the  forum  with  respect  to  these  most 
virtuous  brothers,  who  are  so  highly  esteemed  by  all  the  crowd 

'  There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  what  Cicero  alludes  to  here.  Most 
of  the  commentators  think  that  Ligarius  must  have  been  quaestor  when 
Metellus  and  the  rest  of  his  colleagues  endeavored  to  prevent  Ca?sar  from 
taking  the  money  from  the  public  treasury  ;  but  Fabritius  objects  to  this 
view,  that  at  that  time  Cicero  had  no  connection  with  Caesar's  affairs, 
which  is  certainly  true,  while  he  says  here  that  he  had  at  the  time  that  he 
alludes  to.  He  thinks,  therefore,  that  Cicero  is  alluding  to  what  took 
place  in  the  consulship  of  Lentulus  and  Philippus  (the  year  af  Cicero'* 
recall),  respecting  the  vote  of  pay  to  Caesar's  army  in  Gaul. 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  263 

here  present.  As  you  granted  him  to  the  senate,  so  grant  this 
man  to  the  people,  whose  affections  you  have  always  consid- 
ered most  important  to  you.  And  if  that  day  was  one  most 
glorious  to  you,  and  at  the  same  time  most  acceptable  to  the 
Roman  people,  do  not,  I  entreat  you, — do  not  hesitate  to  earn 
the  praise  of  a  glory  like  that  as  frequently  as  possible. 

For  there  is  nothing  so  calculated  to  win  the  affections  of 
the  people  as  kindness.  Of  all  your  many  virtues,  there  is 
none  more  admirable,  none  more  beloved  than  your  mercy. 
For  there  is  no  action  by  which  men  make  a  nearer  approach 
to  the  gods,  than  by  conferring  safety  on  others.  Fortune  has 
no  greater  gifts  for  you  than  when  it  bestows  on  you  the  abil- 
ity— nature  has  no  better  endowment  for  you  than  when  it 
bestows  on  you  the  will,  to  save  as  many  people  as  possible. 
The  cause  of  my  client,  perhaps,  requires  a  longer  speech  than 
this  :  a  shorter  one  would  certainly  be  sufficient  for  a  man  of 
your  natural  disposition.  Wherefore,  as  I  think  it  more  de- 
sirable for  you  to  converse,  as  it  were,  with  yourself,  than  for 
me  or  any  one  else  to  be  speaking  to  you,  I  shall  now  make 
an  end.  This  only  will  I  remind  you  of,  that  if  you  do  grant 
this  protection  to  him  who  is  absent,  you  will  be  giving  it  also 
to  all  these  men  who  are  here  present. 


THE  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  IN  BEHALF  OF  KING 

DEIOTARUS. 


ADDRESSED    TO    CAIUS    CAESAR. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

This  speech,  like  those  for  Marcellus  and  Ligarius,  was  addressed  to  Cae- 
sar. Deiotarus  was  king  of  Galatia,  and  during  Cicero's  pro-consul- 
ship in  Cilicia  he  had  formed  a  friendship  with  him,  and  had  been  of 
great  assistance  to  him  in  his  campaign  against  Pacorus  and  the  Par. 
thians.  Having  been  an  adherent  of  Pompey,  he  had  already  been  de- 
prived of  a  considerable  part  of  his  dominions  by  Caesar,  and  he  was 
now  accused  by  his  grandson,  who  was  aware  of  Caesar's  inveterate 
dislike  to  him.  of  having  formed  a  design  against  Caesar's  life  four 
years  before,  when  he  entertained  him  in  his  palace  on  his  return  from 
Egypt.  It  is  probable  that  Caesar  was  aware  of  the  groundlessness  of 
the  charge,  but  countenanced  it,  and  allowed  it  to  be  brought  before 


264  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

him.  in  the  hopes  of  finding  a  pretext  for  stripping  the  king  of  all  the 

rest  of  his  dominions. 
Brutus  espoused  Deiotarus's  cause  very  warmly,  and  went  toward  Spain 

to  meet  Caesar,  and  made  him  a  most  earnest  address  in  favor  of  Dei- 

otarus. 
The  present  trial  was  held  in  Caesar's  house,  and  Cicero  proved  the  king's 

innocence  so  completely,  that  he  was  unable  to  condemn  him  ;  but,  as 

he  would  not  acquit  him,  he  adjourned  the  further  consideration  of  the 

matter  till  he  himself  could  go  into  the  East  and  investigate  the  affair 

on  the  spot. 
This  speech  was  delivered  in  the  year  of  Caesar's  fourth  consulship  ;  the 

year  before  he  was  killed. 

I.  In  all  causes  of  more  than  ordinary  importance,  O  Caius 
Caesar,  I  am  accustomed,  at  the  beginning  of  my  speech,  to  be 
more  vehemently  affected  than  either  common  custom  or  my 
own  age  appears  to  require.  And  in  this  particular  cause  I 
am  agitated  by  so  many  considerations,  that  in  proportion  as 
my  fidelity  to  my  friend  inspires  me  with  zeal  to  defend  the 
safety  of  king  Peiotarus,  in  the  same  proportion  do  my  fears 
take  away  from  my  ability  to  do  so.  In  the  first  place,  I  am 
speaking  in  defense  of  the  life  and  fortunes  of  a  king;  and  al- 
though there  is  no  particular  injustice  in  such  a  fact,  especial- 
ly when  it  is  one's  self  who  is  in  danger,  yet  it  is  so  unusual 
for  a  king  to  be  tried  for  his  life,  that  up  to  this  time  no  such 
thing  has  ever  been  heard  of.  In  the  second  place,  I  am  com- 
pelled now  to  defend  against  a  most  atrocious  accusation  that 
very  king  whom  I,  in  common  willi  all  the  senate,  used  for- 
merly to  extol  on  account  of  his  uninterrupted  services  toward 
our  republic.  There  is  this  further  consideration,  that  I  am 
disturbed  by  the  cruelty  of  one  of  the  prosecutors,  and  by  the 
umvorthy  conduct  of  the  other. 

O  cruel,  not  to  say  wicked  and  impious,  Castor !  a  grand- 
son, who  has  brought  his  grandfather  into  danger  of  his  life, 
and  has  caused  that  man  to  dread  his  youth,  whose  old  age  he 
was  bound  to  defend  and  protect ;  who  has  sought  to  recom- 
mend his  entrance  into  life  to  our  favor  by  impiety  and  wick- 
edness ;  who  has  instigated  his  grandfather's  slave,  whom  he 
corrupted  by  bribes,  to  accuse  his  master,  and  has  carried  him 
away  from  the  feet  of  the  king's  embassadors. 

But  when  I  saw  the  countenance  and  heard  the  words  of 
this  runaway  slave,  accusing  his  master, — his  absent  master, — 
his  master,  who  was  a  most  devoted  friend  to  our  republic, — 
I  did  not  feel  so  much  grief  at  the  depressed  condition  of  the 
monarch  himself,  as  fear  for  the  general  fortunes  of  every  one. 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  265 

For  though,  according  to  the  usage  of  our  ancestors,  it  is  not 
lawful  to  examine  a  slave  as  a  witness  against  his  master,  not 
even  by  torture, — in  which  mode  of  examination  pain  might, 
perhaps,  elicit  the  truth  from  a  man  even  against  his  will, — 
a  slave  has  arisen,  who,  without  any  compulsion,  accuses  him 
against  whom  he  might  not  legally  say  a  word  even  on  the 
rack. 

II.  This  thing  also,  O  Caius  Caesar,  at  times  disturbs  me ; 
which,  however,  I  cease  to  fear  when  I  come  to  a  complete 
recollection  of  your  disposition.  For  in  principle  it  is  an  un- 
just thing,  but  by  your  wisdom  it  becomes  a  most  just  one. 
For  it  is  a  serious  business  (if  you  consider  the  matter  by 
itself)  to  speak  concerning  a  crime  before  that  man  against 
whose  life  you  are  accused  of  having  meditated  that  crime ; 
for  there  is  hardly  any  body  wrho,  when  he  is  a  judge  in  any 
matter  in  which  his  own  safety  is  at  stake,  does  not  act  with 
more  partiality  toward  himself  than  toward  the  accused  per- 
son ;  but,  O  Caius  Cassar,  your  admirable  and  extraordinary 
natural  virtue  to  a  great  extent  releases  me  from  this  fear. 
For  I  am  not  so  much  afraid  -what  you  may  wish  to  decide 
with  respect  to  king  Deiotarus,  as  I  am  sure  what  you  wish 
to  decide  in  all  other  cases. 

I  am  affected,  also,  by  the  unusual  circumstance  of  the  trial 
in  this  place ;  because  I  am  pleading  so  important  a  cause — 
one,  the  fellow  of  which  has  never  been  brought  under  discus- 
sion— within  the  walls  of  a  private  house  ;  I  am  pleading  it 
out  of  the  hearing  of  any  court  or  body  of  auditors,  which  are 
a  great  support  and  encouragement  to  an  orator.  I  rest  on 
nothing  but  your  eyes,  your  person  and  countenance  ;  I  behold 
you  alone ;  the  whole  of  my  speech  is  necessarily  confined  to 
you  alone.  And  if  those  considerations  are  very  important  as 
regards  my  hope  of  establishing  the  truth,  they  for  all  that  are 
impediments  of  the  energy  of  my  mind,  and  to  the  proper  en- 
thusiasm and  ardor  of  speaking. 

For  if,  O  Caius  Caesar,  I  were  pleading  this  cause  in  the 
forum,  still  having  you  for  my  auditor  and  my  judge,  with 
wrhat  great  cheerfulness  would  the  concourse  of  the  Roman 
people  inspire  me !  For  what  citizen  would  do  otherwise 
than  favor  that  king,  the  whole  of  whose  life  he  would  rec- 
ollect had  been  spent  in  the  wars  of  the  Roman  people?  I 
should  be  beholding  the  senate-house,  I  should  be  surveying 
the  forum,  I  should  call  the  heaven  above  me  itself  to  witness  ; 

M 


2G6  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  so,  while  calling  to  mind  the  kindness  of  the  immortal 
gods,  and  of  the  Roman  people,  and  of  the  senate  to  king  De- 
iotarus, it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  at  a  loss  for  top- 
ics or  arguments  for  my  speech.  But  since  the  walls  of  a 
house  narrow  all  these  topics,  and  since  the  pleading  of  the 
cause  is  greatly  crippled  by  the  place,  it  behooves  you,  O  Caesar, 
who  have  yourself  often  pleaded  for  many  defendants,  to  con- 
sider within  yourself  what  my  feelings  at  present  must  be  ;  so 
that  your  justice,  and  also  your  careful  attention  in  listening 
to  me,  may  the  more  easily  lessen  my  natural  agitation  and 
anxiety. 

But  before  I  say  any  thing  about  the  accusation  itself,  I  will 
say  a  few  words  about  the  hopes  entertained  by  the  accusers. 
For  though  they  appear  to  be  possessed  of  no  great  skill  or  ex- 
perience in  affairs,  nevertheless  they  have  never,  surely,  under- 
taken this  cause  without  some  hope  or  other  and  some  definite 
design. 

III.  They  were  not  ignorant  that  you  were  offended  with 
king  Deiotarus.  They  recollected  that  he  had  been  already 
exposed  to  some  inconvenience  and  loss  on  account  of  the  dis- 
pleasure with  which  you  regarded  him ;  and  while  they  knew 
that  you  were  angry  with  him,  they  had  had  proofs  also  that 
you  were  friendly  to  them.  And  as  they  wrould  be  speaking 
before  you  of  a  matter  involving  personal  danger  to  yourself, 
they  reckoned  that  a  fictitious  charge  would  easily  lodge  in 
your  mind,  which  was  already  sore.  Wherefore,  O  Caius  Cae- 
sar, first  of  all  by  your  good  faith,  and  wisdom,  and  firmness, 
and  clemency  deliver  us  from  this  fear,  and  prevent  our  sus^ 
pecting  that  there  is  any  ill  temper  lurking  in  you.  I  entreat 
you  by  that  right  hand  of  yours  which  you  pledged  in  token 
of  everlasting  friendship  to  king  Deiotarus ;  by  that  right 
hand,  I  say,  which  is  not  more  trustworthy  in  wars  or  in  bat- 
tles than  in  promises  and  pledges  of  good  faith.  You  have 
chosen  to  enter  his  house,  you  have  chosen  to  renew  with  him 
the  ancient  ties  of  friendship  and  hospitality.  His  household 
gods  have  received  you  under  their  protection ;  the  altars  and 
hearths  of  king  Deiotarus  have  beheld  you  at  peace  with  and 
friendly  toward  him. 

You  are  accustomed,  O  Caius  Caesar,  not  only  to  be  pre- 
vailed upon  by  entreaties  easily,  but  to  be  prevailed  on  once 
for  all.  No  enemy  has  ever  been  reconciled  to  you  who  has 
found  any  remnant  of  hostility  remaining  in  your  breast  after- 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  267 

ward.  Although,  who  is  there  who  has  not  heard  of  your 
complaints  against  king  Deiotarus  ?  You  have  never  accused 
him  as  being  an  enemy  to  you,  but  as  being  a  friend  very  slack 
in  his  duty ;  because  his  inclination  led  him  more  to  friend- 
ships with  Cnseus  Pompeius  than  with  you.  And  yet  that 
very  fact  you  said  that  you  would  have  pardoned,  if  when  he 
gent  reinforcements  and  even  his  son  to  Pompeius,  he  had  him- 
self availed  himself  of  the  excuse  furnished  him  by  his  age. 
And  in  this  way,  while  you  were  acquitting  him  of  the  most 
important  charges,  you  left  behind  only  the  little  blame  of  his 
friendship  for  another.  Therefore,  you  not  only  abstained 
from  punishing  him,  but  you  released  him  from  all  apprehen- 
sion ;  you  acknowledged  him  as  your  friend,  you  left  him  king. 
And,  indeed,  his  proceedings  were  not  dictated  by  any  hatred 
of  you ;  he  fell  by  the  general  error  of  us  all.  That  king, 
whom  the  senate  had  repeatedly  addressed  by  this  name,  using 
it  in  decrees  most  complimentary  to  him,  and  who  from  his 
youth  up  had  always  considered  that,  order  most  important 
and  most  sacred,  being  a  man  living  at  a  great  distance,  and 
a  foreigner  by  birth,  was  perplexed  by  the  same  affairs  which 
embarrassed  us  who  were  born  and  who  at  all  times  had  lived 
in  the  middle  of  the  republic. 

IV.  When  he  heard  that  men  had  taken  arms  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  senate,  acting  with  great  unanimity ;  that  the 
defense  of  the  republic  had  been  intrusted  to  the  consuls,  the 
praetors,  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  and  to  all  of  us  who  had 
received  the  title  of  Imperator,  he  was  agitated  in  his  mind, 
and  being  a  man  most  deeply  attached  to  this  empire,  he  be- 
came alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  Eoman  people,  in  which 
also  he  considered  that  his  own  was  bound  up.  And  being 
in  a  state  of  the  greatest  alarm,  he  thought  it  best  to  remain 
quiet  himself.  But  he  wras  beyond  measure  agitated  when  he 
heard  that  the  consuls  had  fled  from  Italy,  and  all  the  men  of 
consular  rank  (for  so  it  was  reported)  with  them,  and  all  the 
senate,  and  that  the  whole  of  Italy  was  emptied.  For  the 
road  was  wide  open  for  all  such  messengers  and  reports  to 
travel  to  the  East,  and  no  true  accounts  followed.  He  never 
heard  a  word  of  the  conditions  which  you  offered,  nor  of  your 
eagerness  for  concord  and  peace,  nor  of  the  way  in  wrhich  cer- 
tain men  conspired  against  your  dignity.  And  though  this 
was  the  state  of  things,  still  he  continued  quiet  until  embassa- 
dors and  letters  came  to  him  from  Cnseus  Pompeius.     Pardon 


268  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Deiotarus,  pardon  him,  I  entreat  you,  O  Csesar,  if  he,  though 
a  king,  yielded  to  the  authority  of  that  man  whom  we  all  fol- 
lowed, and  on  whom  both  gods  and  men  had  heaped  every 
sort  of  distinction,  and  on  whom  you  yourself  had  conferred 
the  most  numerous  and  most  important  honors1  of  all.  Nor, 
indeed,  does  it  follow  that,  because  your  exploits  have  thrown 
a  cloud  over  the  praises  of  others,  we  have,  therefore,  entire- 
ly lost  all  recollection  of  Cnasus  Pompeius.  Who  is  there  who 
is  ignorant  how  great  the  name  of  that  man  was,  how  great 
his  influence,  how  great  his  renown  in  every  description  of 
war,  how  great  were  the  honors  paid  him  by  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, and  by  the  senate,  and  by  you  yourself?  He  had  sur- 
passed all  his  predecessors  in  glory  as  much  as  you  have  sur- 
passed all  the  world.  Therefore,  we  used  to  count  up  with 
admiration  the  wars  and  the  victories,  and  the  triumphs,  and 
the  consulships,  of  Cnaeus  Pompeius.  But  yours  we  are  wholly 
unable  to  reckon. 

V.  To  him  then  came  king  Deiotarus  in  this  miserable  and 
fatal  war,  to  him  whom  he  had  previously  assisted  in  his  reg- 
ular wars  against  the  enemies  of  Rome,  and  with  whom  he 
was  bound,  not  only  by  ties  of  hospitality,  but  also  by  person- 
al intimacy.  And  he  came,  either  because  he  had  been  asked, 
as  a  friend ;  or  because  he  had  been  sent  for  as  an  ally ;  or 
because  he  had  been  summoned,  like  one  who  had  learned  to 
obey  the  senate ;  and  last  of  all,  he  came  as  to  a  man  flying, 
not  to  one  pursuing  others — that  is  to  say,  as  a  sharer  of  dan- 
ger, not  a  partner  in  victory. 

Therefore,  after  the  result  of  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  he  de- 
parted from  Pompeius ;  he  did  not  choose  to  persist  in  hopes  of 
which  he  saw  no  end.  He  thought  he  had  done  quite  enough 
to  satisfy  the  claims  of  duty,  if  indeed  he  was  under  any  such 
obligations,  and  that  he  had  made  quite  mistake  enough  if  he 
had  ignorantly  erred.  He  returned  home ;  and  all  the  time 
that  you  were  engaged  in  the  Alexandrian  war,  he  consulted 
your  interests.  He  supported  in  his  palaces  and  from  his  own 
resources  the  army  of  Cnaeus  Domitius,  that  most  distinguish- 
ed man.  He  sent  money  to  Ephesus  to  him  whom  you  select- 
ed as  the  most  faithful  and  most  highly  esteemed  of  all  your 
friends.  He  gave  him  money  a  second  time ;  he  gave  him 
money  a  third  time  for  you  to  employ  in  the  war,  though  he 
was  forced  to  sell  property  by  auction  in  order  to  raise  it.  He 
1  For  Caesar  had  given  Potnpey  his  daughter  in  marriage. 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  269 

exposed  his  own  person  to  danger,  and  he  was  with  yon,  serv- 
ing in  your  army  againt  Pharnaces,  and  he  considered  nim  as 
his  own  enemy  because  lie  was  yours.  And  all  those  actions 
of  his  were  accepted  by  you,  O  Cams  Caesar,  in  such  a  spirit 
that  you  paid  him  the  highest  possible  honors,  and  confirmed 
him  in  the  dignity  and  title  of  kino;. 

He,  therefore,  having  been  not  onlv  released  from  danger 
by  you,  but  having  been  also  distinguished  by  you  with  the 
highest  honors,  is  now  accused  of  having  intended  to  assassin- 
ate you  in  his  own  house — a  thing  which  you  can  not  in  truth 
possibly  suspect,  unless  you  consider  him  to  have  been  utterly 
mad.  For,  to  say  nothing  of  what  a  deed  of  enormous  wick- 
edness it  would  have  been  to  assassinate  his  guest  in  the  sight 
of  his  own  household  gods ;  what  a  deed  of  enormous  unrea- 
sonableness it  would  have  been  to  have  extinguished  the  bright- 
est light  of  all  nations,  and  of  all  human  recollection  ;  what  a 
deed  of  enormous  ferocity  it  would  have  been  to  have  had  no 
dread  of  the  conqueror  of  the  whole  earth  ;  what  a  sign  of  an 
inhuman  and  ungrateful  disposition  it  would  have  been  to  be 
found  to  behave  like  a  despot  to  the  very  man  by  whom  he 
had  been  addressed  as  a  king; — to  say  nothing  of  all  this, 
what  a  deed  of  utter  phrensy  would  it  have  been  to  rouse  all 
kings,  of  whom  there  were  numbers  on  the  borders  of  his 
own  kingdom,  all  free  nations,  all  the  allies,  all  the  provinces, 
all  the  arms,  in  short,  of  every  people  on  earth  against  himself 
alone !  To  what  misery  would  he  not  have  exposed  his  king- 
dom, his  house,  his  wife,  and  his  beloved  son,  not  merely  by 
the  accomplishment  of  such  a  crime,  but  even  by  the  bare  idea 
of  it! 

VI.  But  I  suppose  that  improvident  and  rash  man  did  not 
see  all  this !  On  the  contrarv.  who  is  a  more  considerate  man 
than  he?  Who  is  more  secret  in  his  plans'?  Who  is  more 
prudent?  Although  in  this  place  it  is  not  so  much  on  the 
ground  of  cleverness  and  prudence  that  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
should  defend  Deiotarus,  as  on  that  of  good  faith  and  religious 
feeling  and  conduct.  You  are  well  acquainted,  O  Caius  Cae- 
sar, with  the  honesty  of  the  man,  with  his  virtuous  habits, 
with  his  wisdom  and  firmness.  Indeed,  who  is  there  who  has 
ever  heard  of  the  name  of  the  Roman  people,  who  has  not 
heard  also  of  the  integrity,  and  wisdom,  and  virtue,  and  good 
faith  of  Deiotarus  %  A  crime,  then,  that  can  not  be  imputed 
to  an  imprudent  man,  on  account  of  his  fear  of  instant  dc- 


270  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

struction,  nor  to  an  unscrupulous  man,  unless  he  be  at  the 
same  time  utterly  insane ;  will  you  pretend  that  such  a  crime 
was  thought  of  by  a  most  virtuous  man,  and  one  too  who  was 
never  accounted  a  fool? 

And  in  what  a  way  do  you  try  and  support  this  invention ! 
in  a  way  not  only  not  calculated  to  win  belief,  but  not  even 
such  as  to  give  rise  to  the  least  suspicion.     AVhen,  says  the 
prosecutor,  you  had  come  to  the  Luceian  fort,  and  had  turned 
aside  to  the  palace  of  the  king  your  entertainer,  there  was  a 
certain  place  where  all  those  things  were  arranged  which  the 
king  had  settled  to  offer  you  as  presents.     To  this  place  he 
intended  to  conduct  you  on  coming  out  of  the  bath,  before 
you  lay  down ;  for  there  were  armed  men  stationed  in  that 
very  place  on  purpose  to  kill  you.     This  is  the  charge ;  this 
is  the  reason  why  a  runaway  should  accuse  a  monarch,  a  slave 
accuse  his  master !      I,  in  truth,  O  Caius  Ca?sar,  at  the  very 
beginning,  when  the  cause  was  originally  laid  before  me,  was 
struck  with  a  suspicion  that  Phidippus  the  physician,  one  of 
the  king's  slaves,  who  had  been  sent  with  the  embassadors, 
had  been  corrupted  by  that  young  man.     He  has  suborned 
the  physician  to  act  as  informer,  thought  I ;  he  will  be  sure 
to  invent  some  accusation  of  poisoning.      Although  my  con- 
jecture was  some  way  from  the  exact  truth,  it  was  not  much 
out  as  to  the  general  principle  of  the  accusation.     What  says 
the  physician'?     Not  a  word  about  poison.     But  in  the  first 
place,  that  might  have  been  administered  much  more  secretly 
in  a  potion  or  in  food ;  in  the  second  place,  a  crime  is  com- 
mitted in  that  way  with  greater  impunity,  because  when  it 
has  been  done,  it  can  be  denied.     If  he  had  assassinated  you 
openly,  he  would  have  brought  upon  himself  not  only  the  ha- 
tred of  all  nations,  but  their  arms  also.     If  he  had  slain  you 
by  poison,  to  be  sure  he  never  would  have  been  able  to  conceal 
the  action  from  the  divine  wrath  of  the  Jupiter  who  presides 
over  hospitality,  but  he  might  perhaps  have  concealed  it  from 
men.      Are  we,  then,  to  suppose  that  that  which  he  might 
have  attempted  in  secret,  and  have  executed  with  great  cau- 
tion, he  never  intrusted  to  you  who  were  a  skillful  physician, 
and,  as  he  believed,  a  faithful  servant,  and  yet  that  lie  could 
conceal  nothing  from  you  with  respect  to  arms,  and  blood, 
and  ambuscade'?    And  how  cleverly  is  the  whole  accusation 
worked  up !     It  was  your  own  good  fortune,  says  he,  that 
fortune  which  always  preserves  you,  which  saved  you  then. 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  271 

You  said  that  you  did  not  wish  at  that  moment  to  see  the 
presents. 

VII.  What  happened  afterward?     Did  Deiotarus,  after  he 
had  failed  in  accomplishing  the  business  at  that  time,  at  once 
dismiss  his  army?  was  there  no  other  place  where  he  could 
set  an  ambush  ?    But  you  said  that  when  you  had  supped  you 
would  come  back  again  the  same  way ;  and  you  did  so.    Was 
it  a  very  difficult  job  to  detain  the  armed  men  one  or  two 
hours  in  the  place  where  they  had  been  stationed?     After 
you  had  spent  your  time  at  the  banquet  courteously  and  mer- 
rily, then  you  went  back  that  way,  as  you  had  said ;  and  then 
and  there  you  found  that  the  behavior  of  Deiotarus  to  you  re- 
sembled that  of  king  Attalus  to  Publius  African  us  :  to  whom, 
as  we  have  read,  he  sent  the  most  magnificent  gifts  from  Asia 
to  Numantia ;  which  Africanus  accepted  in  the  sight  of  all  his 
army.    And  when  Deiotarus,  being  present  with  you,  had  done 
all  this  in  a  kingly  spirit  and  with  royal  courtesy,  you  depart- 
ed to  your  chamber.     I  entreat  you,  O  Caesar,  trace  back  your 
recollection  of  that  time,  bring  that  day  back  before  your  eyes, 
remember  the  countenances  of  the  men  who  were  then  gazing 
on  you  and  admiring  yon  ;  was  there  any  trepidation  among 
them  !  any  disorder  !     Was  any  thing  done  except  in  an  or- 
derly and  quiet  manner, — except  as  became  the  establishment 
of  a  dignified  and  honorable  man  ?     What  reason  then  can  be 
imagined  whv  he  should  have  intended  to  murder  vou  after 
you  had  bathed,  and  why  he  should  not  have  chosen  to  do  so 
after  you  had  supped?     "Oh,  he  put  it  off,"  says  the  prose- 
cutor, "  till  the  next  day,  in  order  that  when  he  arrived  at  the 
Luceian  fort,  he  might  there  put  his  designs  in  execution."  I  do 
not  understand  the  eifect  of  his  changing  the  place ;  but  still 
the  whole  case  was  conducted  in  an  incriminatory  manner. 
"When,"  says  the  prosecutor, "  you  said  after  supper  that  you 
wished  to  vomit,  they  began  to  lead  you  to  the  bath-room ; 
for  that  was  the  place  where  the  ambuscade  was;  but  still  that 
same  fortune  of  yours  saved  you ;  you  said  that  you  had  rath- 
er go  to  your  bedroom."      Alay  the  gods  forgive  you,  you 
runaway  slave !      Are  you  so  utterly,  not  only  worthless  and 
infamous,  but  also  stupid  and  senseless?     What?  were  they 
brazen  statues  that  he  had  planted  in  ambush,  so  that  they 
could  not  be  moved  from  the  bath-room  to  the  bed-chamber? 
Here  you  have  the  whole  charge  as  to  the  ambuscade :  for 
he  said  nothing  further.     " In  all  this,"  says  he,  "I  was  his 


272  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

accomplice."  "What  do  you  mean  ?  Was  he  so  demented  as 
to  allow  a  man  to  leave  him  who  was  privy  to  so  enormous  a 
wickedness  !  As  even  to  send  him  to  Rome,  where  he  knew 
his  grandson  was,  who  was  most  bitterly  hostile  to  him,  and 
where  Cuius  Cassar  was,  against  whom  he  had  laid  this  plot? 
especially  when  he  was  the  only  man  who  could  give  any 
information  against  him  in  his  absence.  "  My  brothers  too," 
says  he,  "  because  they  also  were  privy  to  it,  he  threw  into 
prison."  When,  then,  he  was  putting  those  men  in  prison 
whom  he  had  with  him,  did  he  leave  you  at  large  and  send 
you  to  Home, — you  who  knew  the  very  same  facts  which  you 
say  that  they  knew? 

YIII.  The  remainder  of  the  accusation  was  of  a  two-fold 
character ;  one  part  of  which  was,  that  the  king  was  always 
at  his  watch-tower  because  he  was  so  disaffected  to  your  in- 
terests; the  other,  that  he  had  levied  a  large  army  against 
you.  As  to  the  army,  I  will  reply  to  that  charge  in  a  very 
few  words,  as  I  will  to  the  rest  of  the  charges.  King  Deiotarus 
never  had  any  forces  with  which  he  could  have  made  war  upon 
the  Roman  people  ;  but  only  just  sufficient  to  protect  his  own 
territories  from  the  incursions  of  enemies,  and  to  send  rein- 
forcements to  our  generals.  And  before  this  time  he  was  able 
to  maintain  a  larger  force  than  he  can  now ;  at  present  he  can 
with  difficulty  keep  up  a  very  small  one.  "Oh,  but  he  sent  to 
Caecilius;  I  don't  know  who  it  was  he  sent,  but  he  threw  those 
whom  he  sent,  or  rather  ordered  to  go,  into  prison,  because 
they  would  not  go."  I  do  not  stop  to  ask  how  far  it  is  proba- 
ble that  a  king  should  have  had  no  one  to  send ;  or  that  those 
whom  he  ordered  to  go  should  not  have  obeyed  him ;  or  how 
it  was  that  those  men  who  refused  obedience  in  so  important 
an  affair,  were  put  in  prison,  and  not  executed  ;  but  still,  when 
he  was  sending  to  Caecilius,1  was  he  ignorant  that  that  party 
had  been  defeated,  or  did  he  think  that  Ca?cilius  a  person  of 
great  importance  ?  a  man  whom  he,  who  was  well  acquainted 
with  our  leading  men,  would  have  despised  because  he  knew 
him,  and  just  as  much  because  he  did  not  know  him.  He 
added,  also,  that  he  did  not  send  his  best  cavalry ; — I  dare 
say,  they  were  old  troops,  O  Caesar :  nothing  to  your  cavalry; 

1  This  was  Quintius  Caecilius  Brassus,  a  zealous  partisan  of  Pompey's. 
who  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  collected  some  of  the  remnants  of  his 
army  in  Syria,  with  which  he  afterward  joined  Cassius  after  the  death 
of  Caesar. 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  273 

but  still  they  were  the  best  men  he  had,  his  picked  men.  He 
says,  that  one  of  the  body  was  recognized  as  being  a  slave; — I 
do  not  believe  it ;  I  never  heard  of  it.  But  still,  even  if  such 
a  thing  had  happened,  I  should  not  conceive  that  that  was  any 
fault  of  the  king's. 

IX.  "  He  was  very  ill-disposed  toward  you."  How  so  ? 
He  hoped,  I  suppose,  that  you  would  find  it  difficult  to  get 
out  of  Alexandria,  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  country 
and  of  the  river.  But,  at  that  very  time,  he  supplied  you 
with  money,  and  with  provisions  for  your  army ;  he  co-oper- 
ated to  the  utmost  of  his  power  with  the  officer  to  whom  you 
had  given  command  in  Asia;  he  assisted  you  when  victori- 
ous, not  only  in  the  way  of  affording  you  hospitality,  but 
with  you  he  encountered  danger,  and  stood  by  your  side  in 
the  array  of  battle. 

The  African  war  followed  :  there  were  unfavorable  reports 
spread  about  you,  which  also  roused  that  frantic  Cascilius. 
What  on  that  occasion  was  the  disposition  evinced  toward 
you  by  the  king?  He  sold  property  by  auction,  and  pre- 
ferred stripping  himself,  to  not  supplying  you  with  money. 
"But,"  says  the  prosecutor,  "at  that  very  time  he  was  send- 
ing men  to  Nicaea,  and  to  Ephesus,  to  catch  every  report  that 
came  from  Africa,  and  to  bring  it  to  him  with  all  speed." 
Therefore,  when  news  came  that  Domitius  had  perished  by 
shipwreck,  and  that  you  were  blockaded  in  some  fortress,  he 
quoted  a  Greek  verse  with  reference  to  Domitius,  having  the 
same  meaning  as  that  of  our  poet : 

"So  can  we  well  afford  to  lose  our  friends, 
If  our  foes  perish  in  the  same  destruction:"1 

an  expression  which  he  would  never  have  uttered  had  he  been 
ever  so  much  an  enemy  to  you.  For  he  himself  is  a  man  of 
a  humane  disposition  ;  and  that  verse  is  a  savage  one.  Be- 
sides, how  could  a  man  be  a  friend  to  Domitius,  who  was  an 
enemy  to  you*?  Moreover,  why  should  he  be  an  enemy  to 
you,  by  whom  he  might  even  have  been  put  to  death  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  war,  and  by  whom  he  recollected  that  he 
and  his  son  had  been  appointed  kings'? 

What  is  the  next  statement  I  What  is  the  next  step  taken 
by  this  scoundrel  ?     He  says  that  Deiotarus  was  so  elated  at 

1  The  Greek  proverb  is  given  by  Plutarch  as  tfifieTu  (pi?.og  obv  Ix^PV- 
If  the  Latin  iambic  quoted  by  Cicero  comes  from  any  Latin  poet,  it  U 
not  known  who  he  was. 

M2 


274  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this,  that  he  drowned  his  joy  in  wine,  and  danced  naked  at  a 
banquet.  What  cross  is  there  that  could  be  a  sufficient  pun- 
ishment for  this  slave  ?  Did  any  one  ever  see  Deiotarus  dan- 
cings— did  any  one  ever  see  him  drunk  ?  All  kingly  virtues 
are  united  in  that  man,  and  that  I  think  yourself  are  well 
aware  of,  O  Caesar ;  but  most  especially  is  that  singular  and 
admirable  economy  of  his  conspicuous.  Although  this  is  an 
attribute  for  which  I  know  that  it  is  not  usual  to  praise  kings. 
To  say  that  a  man  is  economical  is  not  much  praise  for  a 
king.  To  be  brave,  just,  severe,  dignified,  magnanimous,  open- 
handed,  beneficent,  liberal, — these  are  the  praises  suited  to  a 
king.  Economy  is  a  virtue  for  a  private  individual.  Let 
every  one  take  it  as  he  pleases:  but  I  consider  economy — 
that  is  to  say,  moderation  and  temperance — the  very  greatest 
of  virtues.  And  this  existed  in  this  man  from  his  earliest 
youth,  and  was  experienced  by,  and  known  to,  all  Asia,  and 
by  all  our  magistrates  and  embassadors,  and  by  all  the  Ro- 
man knights  who  trafficked  in  Asia. 

It  was  by  many  successive  steps  of  dutiful  service  toward 
our  republic  that  he  arrived  at  this  title  of  king;  but  still, 
whatever  leisure  he  had  from  the  wars  of  the  Roman  people, 
he  devoted  entirely  to  cultivating  friendship  and  intimacy 
with  our  citizens,  and  to  uniting  his  affairs  and  interests  to 
theirs.  So  that  he  was  not  only  considered  a  noble  tetrarch, 
but  also  an  excellent  father  of  a  family,  and  a  most  indus- 
trious farmer  and  grazier.  Did  he,  then,  who,  while  a  young 
man,  before  he  had  arrived  at  his  subsequent  high  rank,  nev- 
er did  any  thing  that  was  inconsistent  with  the  most  rigid 
virtue  and  the  greatest  dignity,  after  he  had  raised  to  him- 
self the  esteem  in  which  he  is  now  held,  and  when  he  had  be- 
come of  so  advanced  an  age,  did  he  dance  ? 

X.  You  ought,  O  Castor,  rather  to  imitate  the  manner 
and  principles  of  your  grandfather,  than  calumniate  a  most 
virtuous  and  most  illustrious  man  with  the  language  of  a  run- 
away slave.  Even  if  you  had  had  a  grandfather  who  was  a 
dancer,  and  not  a  man  from  whom  examples  of  modesty  and 
chastity  might  be  deprived,  still  this  reproach  is  one  which  is 
very  little  suited  to  your  age.  Those  pursuits  to  which  he 
had  been  habituated  from  his  earliest  age — not  dancing,  but 
such  as  would  train  him  to  wield  his  arms  and  manage  his 
horses  in  the  best  manner, — those  all  had  now  failed  him  at 
his  advanced  time  of  life ;  so  that  we  used  to  wonder,  when 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  275 

several  men  had  lifted  Deiotarus  on  his  horse,  how  so  old  a 
man  as  he  could  contrive  to  stick  on.  But  this  youn<r  man, 
who  was  a  soldier  of  mine  in  Cilicia,  and  a  comrade  of  mine 
in  Greece,  how  was  he  used  to  ride  about  in  that  army  of 
ours,  with  his  own  picked  body  of  cavalry,  whom  his  father 
had  sent  with  him  to  join  Pompeius !  what  gallops  he  used 
to  take!  how  he  used  to  display  his  skill!  What  a  parade 
he  used  to  make !  How  did  he  refuse  to  yield  to  any  one  in 
his  zeal  and  eagerness  for  the  success  of  that  cause !  But 
even  after  the  army  was  lost,  I,  who  had  at  all  times  been  an 
adviser  of  peace,  but  who,  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  urged 
every  one  not  to  lay  aside,  but  to  throw  away  their  arms, 
could  never  bring  this  young  man  to  adopt  my  advice,  both 
because  of  his  own  eagerness  for  that  war,  and  because  he 
thought  himself  bound  to  satisfy  the  expectations  of  his  father. 

Happy  is  that  house  which  has  obtained,  not  only  impuni- 
ty, but  license  to  accuse  others !  Unfortunate  Deiotarus,  who 
is  not  only  accused  by  one  who  was  in  the  same  camp  with 
him,  before  you,  but  who  is  impeached  even  by  his  own  rela- 
tions. Can  not  you,  O  Castor,  be  content  with  your  own 
good  fortune  without  bringing  misery  on  your  relations  % 

XI.  Grant  that  there  may  be  enmity  between  you  ;  which, 
however,  there  ought  not  to  be;  for  it  was  king  Deiotarus 
who  raised  your  family,  when  abject  and  obscure,  from  dark- 
ness into  light.  Who  ever  heard  of  your  father,  or  who  he 
was,  before  they  heard  whose  son-in-law  he  was?  But  even 
supposing  you  repudiated  the  name  of  the  connection  with 
ever  so  much  ingratitude  and  impiety,  still  you  might  have 
conducted  your  quarrel  like  a  man,  and  not  pursue  him  with 
a  false  accusation,  not  seek  his  life,  not  prosecute  him  on  a 
capital  charge.  Be  it  so : — let  even  this  excess  of  bitterness 
and  hatred  be  permitted.  "Was  it  to  go  to  such  an  extent, 
that  all  the  laws  of  ordinary  life  and  of  common  safety,  and 
even  of  humanity,  are  to  be  violated  1  to  tamper  with  slaves 
by  words,  to  corrupt  them  by  hopes  and  promises  ;  to  lead 
them  away  to  your  own  house,  to  arm  them  against  their 
masters,  to  wage  an  impious  war  not  against  one  relation, 
but  against  every  family  in  the  world  f  For  that  corruption 
of  slaves,  if  it  be  not  only  unpunished,  but  even  approved  by 
such  a  great  authority  as  that  of  this  tribunal,  no  walls,  no 
laws,  no  rights  will  be  sufficient  for  the  protection  of  our 
safetv.     For  when  that  which  is  in  our  houses  and  is  our  own 


276  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

can  sally  out  with  impunity  and  fight  against  us,  slavery  then 
gets  the  mastery,  and  the  master's  position  is  slavery. 

Shame  on  the  times,  and  on  our  present  habits  !  That 
Cnseus  Domitius,  whom  we  as  boys  saAv  consul,  and  censor, 
and  chief  pontiff,  when,  as  tribune  of  the  people,  he  had  im- 
peached Marcus  Scaurus,  the  chief  man  of  the  state,  before 
the  people,  and  when  a  slave  of  Scaurus  had  come  secretly  to 
him  at  his  own  house,  and  had  offered  to  give  information 
with  respect  to  charges  which  might  be  brought  against  his 
master,  ordered  the  slave  to  be  apprehended,  and  taken  to 
Scaurus.  See  what  a  difference  there  is  now, — although  it  is 
a  shame  of  me  to  compare  Castor  to  Domitius ;  still,  he  sent 
his  slave  back  to  his  enemy,  you  have  seduced  one  from  your 
grandfather;  he  refused  to  listen  to  one  though  he  had  not 
been  bribed,  you  have  bribed  one ;  he  rejected  a  slave  as  his 
assistant  against  his  master,  you  have  employed  one  even  as 
an  accuser.  But  was  it  only  once  that  that  fellow  was  cor- 
rupted by  you  ?  Did  he  not  escape  back  again  to  the  embas- 
sadors after  he  had  been  brought  forward  by  you,  and  after 
he  had  been  with  you  %  Did  he  not  even  come  to  this  Cnaeus 
Domitius?  Did  not  he,  in  the  hearing  of  this  Servius  Sul- 
picius,  that  most  illustrious  man,  who  is  present  here,  and  of 
this  Titus  Torquatus,  a  most  virtuous  young  man,  who  is  also 
present,  confess  that  he  had  been  bribed  by  you,  and  that  it 
was  by  your  promises  that  he  had  been  instigated  to  this  dis- 
honesty % 

XII.  What  then  is  the  object  of  this  shameless,  and  bar- 
barous, and  unrestrained  inhumanity?  Was  it  for  this  that 
you  came  into  this  city,  that  you  might  corrupt  the  princi- 
ples predominant  in,  and  the  examples  furnished  by  this  city, 
and  that  you  might  pollute  the  humanity  of  our  state  by  your 
own  private  ferocity? 

And  how  ingeniously  have  all  your  charges  been  collected ! 
Blesamius,  says  he  (for  it  was  in  his  name,  a  very  excellent 
man,  and  one  who  was  a  stranger  to  you,  that  he  was  calum- 
niating you,  O  Deiotarus),  used  to  write  to  the  king,  that  you, 
O  Ca3sar,  were  very  unpopular ;  that  you  were  considered  a 
tyrant ;  that  men  were  exceedingly  offended  at  your  statue 
having  been  placed  among  those  of  the  kings ;  that  you  wire 
never  well  received  on  your  appearance  in  public.  Do  not 
you  perceive,  O  Caesar,  that  these  statements  were  collected 
by  these  fellows,  from  the  city  conversation  of  spiteful  men  1 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  27? 

Could  Blesamius  have  written  to  say  that  Caesar  was  a  ty- 
rant? Ay,  for  he  had  seen  the  heads  of  many  citizens  ex- 
posed; he  had  seen  many  men  by  the  orders  of  Caesar  ill- 
treated,  scourged  and  executed  ;  he  had  seen  many  houses  pil- 
laged and  destroyed ;  he  had  seen  the  forum  filled  with  armed 
troops! — No;  those  things  which  previously  we  always  have 
felt  after  victories  in  civil  war,  we  have  not  seen  now,  when 
you  have  been  our  conqueror.  You  are  the  only  man — you 
I  say,  O  Caius  Caasar,  are  the  only  man,  by  whose  victory  no 
one  has  perished  except  with  arms  in  his  hand.  And  can 
the  man  whom  we,  free  men,  born  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
perfect  liberty  of  the  Roman  people,  consider  not  only  no  ty- 
rant, but  as  even  the  most  merciful  man  possible  in  the  use 
of  victory,  can  he  appear  a  tyrant  to  Blesamius,  who  is  liv- 
ing under  a  king?  For  who  complains  about  a  statue,  es- 
pecially about  one  single  statue,  when  he  sees  such  a  num- 
ber ?  Great  reason  have  we,  indeed,  to  envy  a  man  his  stat- 
ues, when  we  do  not  grudge  him  trophies ;  for  if  it  be  the 
place  which  provokes  envy,  surely  there  is  no  place  more  open 
and  fit  for  a  statue  than  the  rostra.  And  as  to  the  way  in 
which  he  is  received  in  public,  why  need  I  make  any  reply 
at  all  ?  for  public  applause  has  never  been  desired  by  you, 
and  sometimes,  owing  to  the  amazement  with  which  men 
have  viewed  your  achievements,  it  has  even  been  stifled  by 
the  excess  of  their  admiration  ;  and  perhaps,  too,  it  has  been 
omitted  because  nothing  vulgar  could  possibly  appear  worthy 
of  you. 

XIII.  I  do  not  think  that  any  thing  has  been  omitted  by 
me ;  but  some  topics  have  been  reserved  for  the  end  of  my 
speech,  and  they  are  of  such  a  nature  that  they  ought  to  rec- 
oncile you  cordially  to  Deiotarus — for  I  am  not  now  afraid  of 
your  being  angry  with  him  ;  I  am  apprehensive  rather  of  your 
suspecting  that  he  harbors  some  resentment  against  you.  And 
that  suspicion,  believe  me,  O  Caesar,  is  as  remote  as  possible 
from  the  truth.  For  he  recollects  only  what  he  still  has  left 
owing  to  you,  and  not  what  he  has  lost  by  your  means ;  nor 
does  he  consider  that  he  has  been  deprived  of  any  thing  by 
you,  but,  being  aware  that  it  was  necessary  for  you  to  give 
many  rewards  to  many  people,  he  did  not  think  it  hard  that 
you  should  take  something  from  him  who  had  been  on  the 
other  side.  In  truth,  if  that  great  prince,  Antiochus  the  Great, 
the  king  of  Asia,  who,  after  he  had  been  conquered  by  Scipio, 


278  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

was  ordered  to  consider  Mount  Taurus  as  the  boundary  of  his 
dominions,  and  was  deprived  of  all  this  Asia  which  is  now  a 
province  of  our  own, — if  he  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he 
had  been  kindly  treated  by  the  Roman  people,  because  he  had 
been  released  by  them  from  the  care  of  an  overgrown  empire, 
and  was  now  at  liberty  to  enjoy  a  kingdom  of  moderate  ex- 
tent, Deiotarus  can  comfort  himself  more  easily.  For  Anti- 
ochus  had  suffered  a  chastisement  for  his  insanity,  my  client 
only  for  an  error.  You,  O  Ca?sar,  gave  every  thing  to  Dei- 
otarus when  you  gave  him  and  his  son  the  title  of  King ;  and 
as  long  as  he  is  allowed  to  retain  and  preserve  this  title,  he 
does  not  think  that  the  kindness  of  the  Roman  people  is  at 
all  diminished,  or  that  the  senate  has  come  to  any  unfavora- 
ble decision  respecting  him.  He  preserves  a  great  and  lofty 
spirit,  and  will  never  succumb  to  his  enemies,  nor  even  to 
fortune. 

He  thinks  that  by  his  previous  conduct  he  has  given  birth 
to  much,  and  that  by  his  own  courage  and  virtue  he  still  has 
much  which  he  can  not  possibly  be  deprived  of.  For  what 
fortune,  or  what  accident,  or  what  injury  can  happen  to  Dei- 
otarus of  such  severity  as  to  efface  the  decrees  of  all  our  gen- 
erals respecting  him  1  For  he  has  been  complimented  and  dis- 
tinguished ever  since  he  was  of  an  age  to  serve  in  their  camps, 
by  all  those  men  who  have  had  the  conduct  of  our  wars  in 
Asia,  and  in  Cappadocia,  and  in  Pontus,  and  in  Cilicia,  and 
in  Syria.  And  what  length  of  time  will  ever  efface,  what  for- 
getfulness  will  ever  obliterate  those  numerous  and  honorable 
resolutions  of  the  senate  respecting  him,  which  have  been  re- 
corded in  the  public  writings  and  memorials  of  the  Roman 
people  ? 

"Why  need  I  speak  of  his  valor  ?  why  of  his  greatness  of 
mind?  of  his  wisdom"?  of  his  firmness  and  consistency?  quali- 
ties which  not  only  have  all  wise  and  learned  men  pronounced 
to  be  the  greatest  blessings,  but  which  some  have  even  consid- 
ered the  only  real  ones,  and  have  said  that  virtue  wanted  no- 
thing more  than  these  for  the  purpose  of  living  not  only  well, 
but  even  happily.  He,  considering  these  things,  and  reflect- 
ing on  them  day  and  night,  is  so  far  from  feeling  resentment 
against  }rou  (for  he  would  not  only  be  ungrateful,  but  even 
mad  to  do  so),  that  he  attributes  the  whole  of  the  tranquillity 
and  quiet  of  his  old  age  which  he  enjoys,  to  your  clemency. 

XXV.  And  as  these  were  his  sentiments  previously,  I  do 


FOR  KING  DEIOTARUS.  279 

not  doubt  also  that  after  the  receipt  of  jour  letters,  of  which 
I  have  read  a  copy,  which  you  gave  to  this  Blesamius  at  Tar- 
raco  for  Deiotarus,  his  spirit  became  loftier  still,  and  that  he 
ceased  to  feel  any  anxiety  whatever.  For  in  them  you  bid 
him  entertain  good  hopes,  and  to  be  of  good  courage — expres- 
sions which  I  know  you  are  not  in  the  habit  of  using  without 
a  meaning  ;  for  I  recollect  that  you  wrote  to  me  in  almost  the 
same  language,  and  that  when  you  bade  me  entertain  good 
hopes  of  the  future  you  were  not  deceiving  me. 

I  am  anxious,  indeed,  in  this  cause  of  King  Deiotarus,  with 
whom  the  affairs  of  this  republic  have  united  me  in  friend- 
ship, while  our  mutual  regard  for  one  another  has  connected 
us  by  ties  of  hospitality,  with  whom  long  acquaintance  has 
engendered  intimacy,  and  his  great  services  to  me  and  to  my 
army  have  wrought  in  me  the  greatest  affection  for  him.  But 
while  I  am  anxious  about  him,  I  am  anxious  also  about  many 
most  distinguished  men,  who  have  been  pardoned  by  you,  and 
who  ought  to  be  able  to  consider  their  pardon,  whenever  pro- 
nounced, as  binding  forever  ;  and  who  ought  not  to  feel  that  a 
doubt  is  thrown  on  the  permanency  of  your  kindness  to  them, 
nor  to  have  a  perpetual  anxiety  implanted  in  their  minds  ; 
nor,  in  short,  ought  it  to  be  allowed  to  happen  that  any  one 
of  those  men  should  begin  again  to  feel  apprehension,  who  has 
once  been  released  by  you  from  fear. 

I  ought  not,  O  Caesar,  to  endeavor,  as  is  often  done  by  men 
in  such  danger  as  this,  to  move  your  pity  by  my  language. 
There  is  no  need  of  my  doing  so.  Your  feelings  are  of  their 
own  accord  accustomed  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  suppliant 
and  unfortunate,  without  being  elicited  by  the  eloquence  of 
any  body.  Place  before  your  eyes  two  kings,  and  contem- 
plate with  your  mind  what  you  can  not  behold  with  your 
eyes.  You  will  surely  yield  to  your  feelings  of  compassion 
what  you  refused  to  your  resentment.  There  are  many  mon- 
uments of  your  clemency,  but  the  chief,  sure,  are  the  secure 
happiness  of  those  men  to  whom  it  is  you  have  been  the  au- 
thor of  safety.  And  if  such  an  action  is  glorious  in  the  case 
of  a  private  individual,  much  more  will  it  be  celebrated  when 
it  is  a  king  who  is  the  object  of  it.  The  title  of  King  has  al- 
ways been  accounted  a  holy  name  in  this  city ;  but  the  names 
of  ally  and  king,  when  united  together,  are  then  the  holiest  of 
all  titles. 

XV.  And  these  kings  were  afraid  that  if  you  were  victori- 


280  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ous  they  might  lose  that  name.  But  now  that  they  have 
been  allowed  to  retain  it,  and  have  been  confirmed  in  it  by 
you,  I  confidently  trust  that  they  will  even  transmit  it  to 
their  posterity  Moreover,  these  embassadors  whom  you  see 
before  you,  Ilieras,  and  Blesamius,  and  Antigonus,  men  with 
whom  you  and  all  of  us  have  long  been  acquainted,  and  also 
Porylaus,  a  man  of  the  same  loyalty  and  virtue  as  they,  who 
was  lately  sent  as  embassador  to  you  in  company  with  Ilie- 
ras, devoted  friends  of  the  king,  and  men  too  who,  as  I  hope, 
are  highly  esteemed  by  you,  offer  you  their  persons  as  hos- 
tages and  pledges  to  secure  the  safety  of  their  prince.  Ask 
Blesamius  whether  he  ever  wrote  any  thing  to  the  king  to  the 
disparagement  of  your  dignity.  Hieras,  indeed,  undertakes 
the  whole  cause  of  Deiotarus,  and  offers  himself  as  the  defend- 
ant against  all  these  charges  in  behalf  of,  and  instead  of  the 
king.  lie  implores  the  aid  of  your  recollection  in  his  favor; 
a  quality  in  which  you  greatly  excel :  he  declares  that  all  the 
time  that  you  were  in  the  tetrarchy  of  Deiotarus  he  never 
left  your  side.  He  says  that  he  met  you  on  the  frontier,  and 
that  he  attended  you  to  the  borders  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  country  ;  that  when  you  left  the  bath  he  was  with  you, 
and  when  you  surveyed  all  those  presents  after  supper,  and 
when  you  retired  to  rest  in  your  bed-chamber.  And  he  says, 
too,  that  he  attended  you  in  the  same  unremitting  manner  all 
the  next  day. 

Wherefore,  if  any  one  of  those  things  which  Deiotarus  has 
been  accused  of,  really  was  thought  of,  he  does  not  object  to 
your  thinking  the  crime  his.  I  entreat  you,  O  Caius  Caesar, 
to  consider  that  on  this  day  your  sentence  will  bring  on  those 
kings  either  most  miserable  calamity,  accompanied  with  infi- 
nite disgrace,  or  an  unsullied  reputation  attended  with  safety ; 
and  to  desire  the  one  of  those  results  would  be  an  act  of  cru- 
elty, to  secure  the  other  is  an  action  suitable  to  your  clem- 
ency. 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  281 


THE  FOURTEEN  ORATIONS  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST 
MARCUS  ANTONIUS,  CALLED  PHILIPPICS. 


THE    FIRST    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

When  Julius,  or,  as  he  is  usually  called  by  Cicero,  Caius  Caesar  was  slain 
on  the  15th  of  March,  a.u.c.  710,  b.c  44,  Marcus  Antonius  was  his 
colleague  in  the  consulship;  and  he,  being  afraid  that  the  conspirators 
might  murder  him  too  (and  it  is  said  that  they  had  debated  amonu 
themselves  whether  they  would  or  no),  concealed  himself  on  that  da\° 
and  fortified  his  house  ;  till  perceiving  that  nothing  was  intended 
against  him,  he  ventured  to  appear  in  public  the  day  following.  Le- 
pidus  was  in  the  suburbs  of  Rome  with  a  regular  army,  ready  to  de- 
part for  the  government  of  Spain,  which  had  been  assigned  to  him  with 
a  part  of  Gaul.  In  the  night,  after  Caesar's  death,  he  occupied  the  fo- 
rum with  his  troops,  and  thought  of  making  himself  master  of  the  city, 
but  Antonius  dissuaded  him  from  that  idea,  and  won  him  over  to  his 
views  by  giving  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Lepidus's  son,  and  by  as- 
sisting him  to  seize  on  the  office  of  Pontifex  Maximus,  which  was  va- 
cant by  Caesar's  death. 

To  the  conspirators  he  professed  friendship,  sent  his  son  among  them  as 
a  hostage  of  his  sincerity,  and  so  deluded  them,  that  Brutus  supped 
with  Lepidus,  and  Cassius  with  Antonius.  By  these  means  he  got 
them  to  consent  to  his  passing  a  decree  for  the  confirmation  of  all 
Caesar's  acts,  without  describing  or  naming  them  more  precisely.  At 
last,  on  the  occasion  of  Caesar's  public  funeral,  he  contrived  so  to  in- 
flame the  populace  against  the  conspirators,  that  Brutus  and  Cassius 
had  some  difficulty  in  defending  their  houses  and  their  lives ;  and  he 
gradually  alarmed  them  so  much,  and  worked  so  cunningly  on  their 
fears,  that  they  all  quitted  Rome.  Cicero  also  left  Rome,  disapprov- 
ing greatly  of  the  vacillation  and  want  of  purpose  in  the  conspirators. 
On  the  first  of  June  Antonius  assembled  the  senate  to  deliberate  on  the 
affairs  of  the  republic,  and  in  the  interval  visited  all  parts  of  Italy. 

In  the  mean  time  young  Octavius  appeared  on  the  stage  ;  he  had  been 
left  by  Caesar,  who  was  his  uncle,  the  heir  to  his  name  and  estate.  He 
returned  from  Apollonia,  in  Macedonia,  to  Italy  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  his  uncle's  death,  and  arrived  at  Naples  on  the  eighteenth  of  April, 
where  he  was  introduced  by  Hirtius  and  Pansa  to  Cicero,  whom  ho 
promised  to  be  guided  in  all  respects  by  his  directions.  He  was  now 
between  eighteen  and  nineteen  years  of  age. 

He  began  by  the  representation  of  public  spectacles  and  games  in  honor 
of  Caesar's  victories.  In  the  mean  time  Antonius,  in  his  progress 
through  Italy,  was  making  great  use  of  the  decree  confirming  alf  Cae- 
sar's acts,  which  he  interpolated  and  forged  in  the  most  shameless  man- 
ner.    Among  other  things  he  restored  Deiotarus  to  all  his  dominions. 


282  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

having  been  bribed  to  do  so  by  a  hundred  millions  of  sesterces  by  the 
king's  agents  ;  but  Deiotarus  himself,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  Caesar's 
death,  seized  all  his  dominions  by  force.  He  also  seized  the  public 
treasure  which  Caesar  had  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Opis,  amounting 
to  above  four  millions  and  a  half  of  our  money,  and  with  this  he  won 
over  Dolabella,1  who  had  seized  the  consulship  on  the  death  of  Caesar, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  army. 

At  the  end  of  May  Cicero  began  to  return  toward  Rome,  in  order  to  ar- 
rive there  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  senate  on  the  first  of  June  ;  but 
many  of  his  friends  dissuaded  him  from  entering  the  city,  and  at  last 
he  determined  not  to  appear  in  the  senate  on  that  day,  but  to  make  a 
tour  in  Greece  ;  to  assist  him  in  which,  Dolabella  named  him  of  his 
lieutenants.  Antonius  also  gave  Brutus  and  Cassius  commissions  to 
buy  corn  in  Asia  and  Sicily  for  the  use  of  the  republic,  in  order  to  keep 
them  out  of  the  city. 

Meantime  Sextus  Pompeius,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  army 
in  Spain,  addressed  letters  to  the  consuls  proposing  terms  of  accommo- 
dation, which  after  some  debate,  and  some  important  modifications,  were 
agreed  to,  and  he  quitted  Spain,  and  came  as  far  as  Marseilles  on  his 
road  toward  Rome. 

Cicero  having  started  for  Greece  was  forced  to  put  back  by  contrary 
winds,  and  returned  to  Velia  on  the  seventeenth  of  August,  where  he 
had  a  long  conference  with  Brutus,  who  soon  after  left  Italy  for  his 
province  of  Macedonia,  which  Caesar  had  assigned  him  before  his  death, 
though  Antonius  now  wished  to  compel  him  to  exchange  it  for  Crete. 
After  this  conference  Cicero  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  was  received 
with  unexampled  joy,  immense  multitudes  thronging  out  to  meet  him, 
and  to  escort  him  into  the  city.  He  arrived  in  Rome  on  the  last  day 
of  August.  The  next  day  the  senate  met,  to  which  he  was  particular- 
ly summoned  by  Antonius,  but  he  excused  himself  as  not  having  re- 
covered from  the  fatigue  of  his  journey. 

Antonius  was  greatly  offended,  and  in  his  speech  in  the  senate  threaten- 
ed openly  to  order  his  house  to  be  pulled  down  ;  the  real  reason  of 
Cicero's  absenting  himself  from  the  senate  being,  that  the  business  of 
the  day  was  to  decree  some  new  and  extraordinary  honors  to  Caesar, 
and  to  order  supplications  to  him  as  a  divinity,  which  Cicero  was  de- 
termined not  to  concur  in,  though  he  knew  it  would  be  useless  to  op- 
pose them. 

The  next  day  also  the  senate  met,  and  Antonius  absented  himself;  but 
Cicero  came  down  and  delivered  the  following  speech,  which  is  the 
first  of  that  celebrated  series  of  fourteen  speeches  made  in  opposition 
to  Antonius  and  his  measures,  and  called  Philippics  from  the  orations 
of  Demosthenes  against  Philip,  to  which  the  Romans  were  in  the  habit 
of  comparing  them.2 

I.  Before,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  say  those  things  concern- 
ing the  republic  which  I  think  myself  bound  to  say  at  the 

1  Dolabella  had  been  married  to  Cicero's  daughter  Tullia,  but  was  di- 
vorced from  her. 

3  The  name  was  given  them  early.  Juvenal,  who  wrote  within  a  hun- 
dred years  of  Cicero's  time,  calls  them  "  divina  Philippica." 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  283 

present  time,  I  will  explain  to  you  briefly  the  cause  of  my  de- 
parture from,  and  of  my  return  to  the  city.  "When  I  hoped 
that  the  republic  was  at  last  recalled  to  a  proper  respect  for 
your  wisdom  and  for  your  authority,  I  thought  that  it  became 
me  to  remain  in  a  sort  of  sentinelship,  which  was  imposed 
upon  me  by  my  position  as  a  senator  and  a  man  of  consular 
rank.  Nor  did  I  depart  any  where,  nor  did  I  ever  take  my 
eyes  off  from  the  republic,  from  the  day  on  which  we  were 
summoned  to  meet  in  the  temple  of  Tellus  ;]  in  which  temple, 
I,  as  far  as  was  in  my  power,  laid  the  foundations  of  peace, 
and  renewed  the  ancient  precedent  set  by  the  Athenians  ;  I 
even  used  the  Greek  word,2  which  that  city  employed  in  those 
times  in  allaying  discords,  and  gave  my  vote  that  all  recollec- 
tion of  the  existing  dissensions  ought  to  be  effaced  by  ever- 
lasting oblivion. 

The  oration  then  made  by  Marcus  Antonius  was  an  admi- 
rable one  ;  his  disposition,  too,  appeared  excellent ;  and  last- 
ly, by  his  means  and  by  his  sons',  peace  was  ratified  with  the 
most  illustrious  of  the  citizens  ;  and  every  thing  else  was  con- 
sistent with  this  beofinnino;.  He  invited  the  chief  men  of  the 
state  to  those  deliberations  which  he  held  at  his  own  house 
concerning  the  state  of  the  republic ;  he  referred  all  the  most 
important  matters  to  this  order.  Nothing  was  at  that  time 
found  among  the  papers  of  Caius  Caesar  except  what  was  al- 
ready well  known  to  every  body  ;  and  he  gave  answers  to  ev- 
ery question  that  was  asked  of  him  with  the  greatest  consist- 
ency. Were  any  exiles  restored  1  He  said  that  one  was, 
and  only  one.  Were  any  immunities  granted  !  He  answered, 
None.  He  wished  us  even  to  adopt  the  proposition  of  Servius 
Sulpicius,  that  most  illustrious  man,  that  no  tablet  purporting 
to  contain  any  decree  or  grant  of  Caesar's  should  be  published 
after  the  Ides  of  March  *were  expired.  I  pass  over  many  other 
things,  all  excellent — for  I  am  hastening  to  come  to  a  very 
extraordinary  act  of  virtue  of  Marcus  Antonius.  He  utterly 
abolished  from  the  constitution  of  the  republic  the  Dictator- 
ship, which  had  by  this  time  attained  to  the  authority  of  re- 
gal power.  And  that  measure  was  not  even  offered  to  us  for 
discussion.  He  brought  with  him  a  decree  of  the  senate,  ready 
drawn  up,  ordering  what  he  chose  to  have  done :  and  when  it 
had  been  read,  we  all  submitted  to  his  authority  in  the  mat- 

1  This  meeting  took  place  on  the  third  day  after  Caesar's  death 

2  Mr)  iivrjauianeiv. 


284  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ter  with  the  greatest  eagerness ;  and,  by  another  resolution  of 
the  senate,  we  returned  him  thanks  in  the  most  honorable  and 
complimentary  language. 

II.  A  new  light,  as  it  were,  seemed  to  be  brought  over  us, 
now  that  not  only  the  kingly  power  which  we  had  endured,  but 
all  fear  of  such  power  for  the  future,  was  taken  away  from  us ; 
and  a  great  pledge  appeared  to  have  been  given  by  him  to  the 
republic  that  he  did  wish  the  city  to  be  free,  when  he  utterly 
abolished  out  of  the  republic  the  name  of  dictator,  which  had 
often  been  a  legitimate  title,  on  account  of  our  late  recollec- 
tion of  a  perpetual  dictatorship.  A  few  days  afterward  the 
senate  was  delivered  from  the  danger  of  bloodshed,  and  a  hook1 
was  fixed  into  that  runaway  slave  who  had  usurped  the  name 
of  Caius  Marius.  And  all  these  things  he  did  in  concert  with 
his  colleague.  Some  other  things  that  were  done  were  the  acts 
of  Dolabella  alone  ;  but,  if  his  colleague  had  not  been  absent, 
would,  I  believe,  have  been  done  by  both  of  them  in  concert. 

For  when  enormous  evil  was  insinuating  itself  into  the  re- 
public, and  was  gaining  more  strength  clay  by  day  ;  and  when 
the  same  men  were  erecting;  a  tomb2  in  the  forum,  who  had 
performed  that  irregular  funeral ;  and  when  abandoned  men, 
with  slaves  like  themselves,  were  every  day  threatening  with 
more  and  more  vehemence  aU  the  houses  and  temples  of  the 
city  ;  so  severe  was  the  rigor  of  Dolabella,  not  only  toward  the 
audacious  and  wicked  slaves,  but  also  toward  the  profligate 
and  unprincipled  freemen,  and  so  prompt  was  his  overthrow 
of  that  accursed  pillar,  that  it  seems  marvelous  to  me  that  the 
subsequent  time  has  been  so  different  from  that  one  day. 

For  behold,  on  the  first  of  June,  on  which  day  they  had 
given  notice  that  we  were  all  to  attend  the  senate,  every  thing 
was  changed.  Nothing  was  done  by  the  senate,  but  many  and 
important  measures  were  transacted  by  the  agency  of  the  peo- 
ple, though  that  people  was  both  absent  and  disapproving. 
The  consuls  elect  said,  that  they  did  not  dare  to  come  into 
the  senate.  The  liberators  of  their  countiy  were  absent  from 
that  city  from  the  neck  of  which  they  had  removed  the  yoke 
of  slavery;   though  the  very  consuls  themselves  professed  to 

1  The  hook  was  to  drag  his  carcass  along  the  streets  to  throw  it  into 
the  Tiber.     So  Juvenal  says — 

"  Sejanus  ducitur  unco 
Spectandus." — x.  66. 
3  This  rcft-rs  to  a  pillar  that  was  raised  in  the  forum  in  1-^nor  of  C«sar, 
with  the  inscription.  "To  the  Father  of  his  Country  " 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  285 

praise  them  in  their  public  harangues  and  in  all  their  conver- 
sation. Those  who  were  called  Veterans,  men  of  whose  safety 
this  order  had  been  most  particularly  careful,  were  instigated 
not  to  the  preservation  of  those  things  which  they  had,  but 
to  cherish  hopes  of  new  booty.  And  as  I  preferred  hearing 
of  those  things  to  seeing  them,  and  as  I  had  an  honorary  com- 
mission as  lieutenant,  I  went  away,  intending  to  be  present  on 
the  first  of  January,  which  appeared  likely  to  be  the  first  day 
of  assembling  the  senate. 

III.  I  have  now  explained  to  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  my 
design  in  leaving  the  city.  Now  1  will  briefly  set  before  you, 
also,  my  intention  in  returning,  which  may  perhaps  appear 
more  unaccountable.  As  I  had  avoided  Brundusium,  and  the 
ordinary  route  into  Greece,  not  without  good  reason,  on  the 
first  of  August  I  arrived  at  Syracuse,  because  the  passage  from 
that  city  into  Greece  was  said  to  be  a  good  one.  And  that 
city,  with  which  I  had  so  intimate  a  connection,  could  not, 
though  it  was  very  eager  to  do  so,  detain  me  more  than  one 
nigjit.  I  was  afraid  that  my  sudden  arrival  among  my  iriends 
might  cause  some  suspicion  if  I  remained  there  at  all.  But 
after  the  winds  had  driven  me,  on  my  departure  from  Sicily, 
to  Leucopetra,  which  is  a  promontory  of  the  Rhegian  district, 
I  went  up  the  gulf  from  that  point,  with  the  view  of  crossing 
over.  And  I  had  not  advanced  far  before  I  was  driven  back 
by  a  foul  wind  to  the  very  place  which  I  had  just  quitted. 
And  as  the  night  was  stormy,  and  as  I  had  lodged  that  night 
in  the  villa  of  Publius  Valerius,  my  companion  and  intimate 
friend,  and  as  I  remained  all  the  next  day  at  his  house  waiting  ^ 
for  a  fair  wind,  many  of  the  citizens  of  the  municipality  of 
Rhegium  came  to  me.  And  of  them  there  were  some  who  had 
lately  arrived  from  Rome ;  from  them  I  first  heard  of  the  ha- 
rangue of  Marcus  Antonius,  with  which  I  was  so  much  pleased 
that,  after  I  had  read  it,  I  began  for  the  first  time  to  think  of 
returning.  And  not  long  afterward  the  edict  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius  is  brought  to  me  ;  which  (perhaps  because  I  love  those 
men,  even  more  for  the  sake  of  the  republic  than  of  my  own 
friendship  for  them)  appeared  to  me,  indeed,  to  be  full  of 
equity.  They  added  besides,  (for  it  is  a  very  common  thing 
for  those  who  are  desirous  of  bringing  good  news  to  invent 
something  to  make  the  news  which  they  bring  seem  more  joy- 
ful.) that  parties  were  coming  to  an  agreement ;  that  the  sen- 
ate was  to  meet  on  the  first  of  August ;  that  Antonius  having 


286  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

discarded  all  evil  counselors,  and  having  given  up  the  prov- 
inces of  Gaul,  was  about  to  return  to  submission  to  the  au- 
thority of  the  senate. 

IV.  But  on  this  I  was  inflamed  with  such  eagerness  to 
return,  that  no  oars  or  winds  could  be  fast  enough  for  me ; 
not  that  I  thought  that  I  should  not  arrive  in  time,  but  lest  I 
should  be  later  than  I  wished  in  congratulating  the  republic ; 
and  I  quickly  arrived  at  Velia,  where  I  saw  Brutus ;  how 
grieved  I  was,  I  can  not  express.  For  it  seemed  to  be  a  dis- 
creditable thing  for  me  myself,  that  I  should  venture  to  return 
into  that  city  from  which  Brutus  was  departing,  and  that 
I  should  be  willing  to  live  safely  in  a  place  where  he  could  not. 
But  he  himself  was  not  agitated  in  the  same  manner  that 
I  was ;  for,  being  elevated  with  the  consciousness  of  his  great 
and  glorious  exploit,  he  had  no  complaints  to  make  of  what 
had  befallen  him,  though  he  lamented  your  fate  exceedingly. 
And  it  was  from  him  that  I  first  heard  what  had  been  the 
language  of  Lucius  Piso,  in  the  senate  of  August ;  who  although 
he  was  but  little  assisted  (for  that  I  heard  from  Brutus  him- 
self) by  those  who  ought  to  have  seconded  him,  still  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  Brutus  (and  what  evidence  can  be 
more  trustworthy  ?),  and  to  the  avowal  of  every  one  whom 
I  saw  afterward,  appeared  to  me  to  have  gained  great  credit. 
I  hastened  hither,  therefore,  in  order  that  as  those  who  were 
present  had  not  seconded  him,  I  might  do  so ;  not  with  the 
hope  of  doing  any  good,  for  I  neither  hoped  for  that,  nor  did  I 
well  see  how  it  was  possible ;  but  in  order  that  if  any  thing 
happened  to  me,  (and  many  things  appeared  to  be  threatening 
me  out  of  the  regular  course  of  nature,  and  even  of  destiny), 
I  might  still  leave  my  speech  on  this  day  as  a  witness  to  the 
republic  of  my  everlasting  attachment  to  its  interests. 

Since,  then,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  trust  that  the  reason  of 
my  adopting  each  determination  appears  praiseworthy  to  you, 
before  I  begin  to  speak  of  the  republic,  I  will  make  a  brief 
complaint  of  the  injury  which  Marcus  Antonius  did  me  yes- 
terday ;  to  whom  I  am  friendly,  and  I  have  at  all  times  ad- 
mitted having  received  some  services  from  him  which  make 
it  my  duty  to  be  so. 

V.  What  reason  had  he  then  for  endeavoring,  with  such 
bitter  hostility,  to  force  me  into  the  senate  yesterday  ?  Was 
I  the  only  person  who  was  absent  ?  Have  you  not  repeatedly 
had  thinner  houses  than  yesterday  ?     Or  was  a  matter  of  such 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  287 

importance  under  discussion,  that  it  was  desirable  for  even  sick 
men  to  be  brought  down  ?  Hannibal,  I  suppose,  was  at  the 
gates,  or  there  was  to  be  a  debate  about  peace  with  Pyrrhus ; 
on  which  occasion  it  is  related  that  even  the  great  Appius,  old 
and  blind  as  he  was,  was  brought  down  to  the  senate-house. 
There  was  a  motion  being  made  about  some  supplications ;  a 
kind  of  measure  when  senators  are  not  usually  warning ;  for 
they  are  under  the  compulsion,  not  of  pledges,  but  of  the  in- 
fluence of  those  men  whose  honor  is  being  complimented; 
and  the  case  is  the  same  when  the  motion  has  reference  to  a 
triumph.  The  consuls  are  so  free  from  anxiety  at  these  times, 
that  it  is  almost  entirely  free  for  a  senator  to  absent  himself  if 
he  pleases.  And  as  the  general  custom  of  our  body  was  well 
known  to  me,  and  as  I  was  hardly  recovered  from  the  fatigue 
of  my  journey,  and  was  vexed  with  myself,  I  sent  a  man  to 
him,  out  of  regard  for  my  friendship  to  him,  to  tell  him  that 
I  should  not  be  there.  But  he,  in  the  hearing  of  you  all,  de- 
clared that  he  would  come  with  masons  to  my  house ;  this 
was  said  with  too  much  passion  and  very  intemperately.  For, 
for  what  crime  is  there  such  a  heavy  punishment  appointed  as 
that,  that  any  one  should  venture  to  say  in  this  assembly  that 
he,  with  the  assistance  of  a  lot  of  common  operatives,  would 
pull  down  a  house  which  had  been  built  at  the  public  ex- 
pense in  accordance  with  a  vote  of  the  senate?  And  who 
ever  employed  such  compulsion  as  the  threat  of  such  an  inju- 
ry as  that  to  a  senator  ?  or  what  severer  punishment  has  ever 
been  imposed  for  absence  than  the  forfeiture  of  a  pledge,  or  a 
fine  ?  But  if  he  had  known  what  opinion  I  should  have  de- 
livered on  the  subject,  he  would  have  remitted  somewhat  of 
the  rigor  of  his  compulsion. 

VI.  Do  you  think,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  I  would  have 
voted  for  the  resolution  which  you  adopted  against  your  own 
wills,  of  mingling  funeral  obsequies  with  supplications?  of  in- 
troducing inexplicable  impiety  into  the  republic  ?  of  decreeing 
supplications  in  honor  of  a  dead  man  ?  I  say  nothing  about 
who  the  man  was.  Even  had  he  been  that  great  Lucius 
Brutus  who  himself  also  delivered  the  republic  from  kingly 
power,  and  who  has  produced  posterity  nearly  five  hundred 
years  after  himself  of  similar  virtue,  and  equal  to  similar 
achievements — even  then  I  could  not  have  been  induced  to 
join  any  dead  man  in  a  religious  observance  paid  to  the  im- 
mortal gods;   so  that  a  supplication  should  be  addressed  by 


S88  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

public  authority  to  a  man  who  has  nowhere  a  sepulchre  at 
which  funeral  obsequies  may  be  celebrated. 

I,  O  conscript  fathers,  should  have  delivered  my  opinion, 
which  I  could  easily  have  defended  against  the  Roman  people, 
if  any  heavy  misfortune  had  happened  to  the  republic,  such  as 
war,  or  pestilence,  or  famine  ;  some  of  which,  indeed,  do  exist 
already,  and  I  have  my  fears  lest  others  are  impending.  But 
I  pray  that  the  immortal  gods  may  pardon  this  act,  both  to 
the  Roman  people,  which  does  not  approve  of  it,  and  to  this 
order,  which  voted  it  with  great  unwillingness.  What  %  may 
I  not  speak  of  the  other  misfortunes  of  the  republic  ? — At  all 
events  it  is  in  my  power,  and  it  always  will  be  in  my  power, 
to  uphold  my  own  dignity  and  to  despise  death.  Let  me  have 
only  the  power  to  come  into  this  house,  and  I  will  never 
shrink  from  the  danger  of  declaring  my  opinion ! 

And,  O  conscript  fathers,  would  that  I  had  been  able  to  be 
present  on  the  first  of  August ;  not  that  I  should  have  been 
able  to  do  any  good,  but  to  prevent  any  one  saying  that  not 
one  senator  of  consular  rank  (as  was  the  case  then)  was  found 
worthy  of  that  honor  and  worthy  of  the  republic.  And  this 
circumstance  indeed  gives  me  great  pain,  that  men  who  have 
enjoyed  the  most  honorable  distinctions  which  the  Roman 
people  can  confer,  did  not  second  Lucius  Piso,  the  proposer  of 
an  excellent  opinion.  Is  it  for  this  that  the  Roman  people 
made  us  consuls,  that,  being  placed  on  the  loftiest  and  most 
honorable  step  of  dignity,  we  should  consider  the  republic  of 
no  importance1?  Not  only  did  no  single  man  of  consular  dig- 
nity indicate  his  agreement  with  Lucius  Piso  by  his  voice, 
but  they  did  not  venture  even  to  look  as  if  they  agreed 
with  him.  What,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  horrible,  is 
the  meaning  of  this  voluntary  slavery?  —  Some  submission 
may  have  been  unavoidable :  nor  do  I  require  this  from  every 
one  of  the  men  who  deliver  their  opinions  from  the  consular 
bench  ;  the  case  of  those  men  whose  silence  I  pardon  is  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  those  whose  expression  of  their  senti- 
ments I  require ;  and  I  do  grieve  that  those  men  have  fallen 
under  the  suspicion  of  the  Roman  people,  not  only  as  being 
afraid, — which  of  itself  wrould  be  shameful  enough, — but  as 
having  diiferent  private  causes  for  being  wanting  to  their 
proper  dignity. 

VII.  Wherefore,  in  the  first  place,  I  both  feel  and  acknowl- 
edge great  obligations  to  Lucius  Piso,  who  considered  not  what 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  289 

he  was  able  to  effect  in  the  republic,  but  what  it  was  his  own 
duty  to  do ;  and,  in  the  next  place,  I  entreat  of  you,  O  con- 
script fathers,  even  if  you  have  not  quite  the  courage  to  agree 
with  my  speech  and  to  adopt  my  advice,  at  all  events  to  listen 
to  me  with  kindness  as  you  have  always  hitherto  done. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  declare  my  opinion  that  the  acts 
of  Caesar  ought  to  be  maintained :  not  that  I  approve  of 
them;  (for  who  indeed  can  do  that?)  but  because  I  think 
that  we  ought  above  all  things  to  have  regard  to  peace  and 
tranquillity.  I  wish  that  Antonius  himself  were  present,  pro- 
vided he  had  no  advocates  with  him.  But  I  suppose  he  may 
be  allowed  to  feel  unwell,  a  privilege  which  he  refused  to  al- 
low me  yesterday.  He  would  then  explain  to  me,  or  rather 
to  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  what  extent  he  himself  de- 
fended the  acts  of  Caesar.  Are  all  the  acts  of  Caesar  which 
may  exist  in  the  bits  of  note -books,  and  memoranda,  and 
loose  papers,  produced  on  his  single  authority,  and  indeed 
not  even  produced,  but  only  recited,  to  be  ratified1?  And 
shall  the  acts  which  lie  caused  to  be  engraved  on  brass,  in 
which  he  declared  that  the  edicts  and  laws  passed  by  the 
people  were  valid  forever,  be  considered  as  of  no  power?  I 
think,  indeed,  that  there  is  nothing  so  well  entitled  to  be  called 
the  acts  of  Caesar  as  Caesar's  laws.  Suppose  he  gave  any  one 
a  promise,  is  that  to  be  ratified,  even  if  it  were  a  promise  that 
he  himself  was  unable  to  perform?  As,  in  fact,  he  has  failed 
to  perform  many  promises  made  to  many  people.  And  a  great 
many  more  of  those  promises  have  been  found  since  his  death, 
than  the  number  of  all  the  services  which  he  conferred  on  and 
did  to  people  during  all  the  years  that  he  was  alive  would 
amount  to. 

But  all  those  things  I  do  not  change,  I  do  not  meddle  with. 
Nay,  I  defend  all  his  good  acts  with  the  greatest  earnestness. 
Would  that  the  money  remained  in  the  temple  of  Opis  ! 
Blood-stained,  indeed,  it  may  be,  but  still  needful  at  these 
times,  since  it  is  not  restored  to  those  to  whom  it  really  be- 
longs.1 Let  that,  however,  be  squandered  too,  if  it  is  so  written 
in  his  acts.  Is  there  any  thing  whatever  that  can  be  called  so 
peculiarly  the  act  of  that  man  who,  while  clad  in  the  robe  of 
peace,  was  yet  invested  with  both  civil  and  military  command 
in  the  republic,  as  a  law  of  his  ?  Ask  for  the  acts  of  Gracchus, 
the  Sempronian  laws  will  be  brought  forward ;  ask  for  those 

1  See  Philippic  2. 

N 


290  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

of  Sylla,  you  will  have  the  Cornelian  laws.     What  more  ?     In 
what  acts  did  the  third  consulship  of  Cineus Pompeius  consist? 
"Why,  in  his  laws.     And  if  you  could  ask  Caesar  himself  what 
he  had  done  in  the  city  and  in  the  garb  of  peace,  he  would  re-  > 
ply  that  he  had  passed  many  excellent  laws ;  but  hLs  memo-  I 
randa  he  would  either  alter  or  not  produce  at  all ;  or,  if  he 
did  produce  them,  he  would  not  class  them  among  his  acts.'j 
But,  however,  I  allow  even  these  things  to  pass  for  acts ;   at 
some  things  I  am  content  to  wink ;  but  I  think  it  intolerable  I 
that  the  acts  of  Caesar  in  the  most  important  instances,  that  i 
is  to  say,  in  his  laws,  are  to  be  annulled  for  their  sake. 

VIII.  What  law  was  ever  better,  more  advantageous,  more  | 
frequently  demanded  in  the  best  ages  of  the  republic,  than  the 
one  which  forbade  the  praetorian  provinces  to  be  retained  more 
than  a  year,  and  the  consular  provinces  more  than  two  ?  If 
this  law  be  abrogated,  do  you  think  that  the  acts  of  Caesar  are 
maintained  ?  What  %  are  not  all  the  laws  of  Caesar  respect- 
ing judicial  proceedings  abrogated  by  the  law  which  has  been 
proposed  concerning  the  third  decury  1  And  are  you  the  de- 
fenders of  the  acts  of  Gaesar  who  overturn  his  laws?  Unless, 
indeed,  any  thing  which,  for  the  purpose  of  recollecting  it,  he 
entered  in  a  note-book,  is  to  be  counted  among  his  acts,  and 
defended,  however  unjust  or  useless  it  may  be  ;  and  that  which 
he  proposed  to  the  people  in  the  comitia  centuriata  and  car- 
ried, is  not  to  be  accounted  one  of  the  acts  of  Caesar.  But 
what  is  that  third  decury  ?  The  decury  of  centurions,  says  he. 
What  ?  was  not  the  judicature  open  to  that  order  by  the  Ju- 
lian law,  and  even  before  that  by  the  Pompeian  and  Aurelian 
laws?  The  income  of  the  men,  says  he,  was  exactly  defined. 
Certainly,  not  only  in  the  case  of  a  centurion,  but  in  the  case, 
too,  of  a  Roman  knight.  Therefore,  men  of  the  highest  honor 
and  of  the  greatest  bravery,  who  have  acted  as  centurions,  are 
and  have  been  judges.  I  am  not  asking  about  those  men,  says 
he.  Whoever  has  acted  as  centurion,  let  him  be  a  judge. 
But  if  you  were  to  propose  a  law,  that  whoever  had  served  in 
the  cavalry,  which  is  a  higher  post,  should  be  a  judge,  you 
would  not  be  able  to  induce  any  one  to  approve  of  that ;  for 
a  man's  fortune  and  worth  ought  to  be  regarded  in  a  judge. 
I  am  not  asking  about  those  points,  says  he ;  I  am  going  to 
add  as  judges,  common  soldiers  of  the  legion  of  Alaudae;1  for 

1  This  was  the  name  of  a  legion  raised  by  Caesar  in  Gaul,  and  called 
bo,  probably,  from  the  ornament  worn  on  their  helmet. 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  291 

our  friends  say,  that  that  is  the  only  measure  by  which  they 
can  be  saved.  Oh  what  an  insulting  compliment  it  is  to  those 
men  whom  you  summon  to  act  as  judges  though  they  never 
expected  it !  For  the  effect  of  the  law  is,  to  make  those  men 
judges  in  the  third  decury  who  do  not  dare  to  judge  with  free- 
dom. And  in  that  how  great,  O  ye  immortal  gods  !  is  the  error 
of  those  men  who  have  desired  that  law.  For  the  meaner  the 
condition  of  each  judge  is,  the  greater  will  be  the  severity  of 
judgment  with  which  he  will  seek  to  efface  the  idea  of  his 
meanness ;  and  he  will  strive  rather  to  appear  worthy  of  be- 
ing classed  in  the  honorable  decuries,  than  to  have  deservedly 
ranked  in  a  disreputable  one. 

IX.  Another  law  was  proposed,  that  men  who  had  been 
condemned  of  violence  and  treason  may  appeal  to  the  public 
if  they  please.  Is  this  now  a  law,  or  rather  an  abrogation  of 
all  laws  ?  For  who  is  there  at  this  day  to  whom  it  is  an  ob- 
ject that  that  law  should  stand?  No  one  is  accused  under 
those  laws  ;  there  is  no  one  whom  we  think  likely  to  be  so 
accused.  For  measures  which  have  been  carried  by  force  of 
arms  will  certainly  never  be  impeached  in  a  court  of  justice. 
But  the  measure  is  a  popular  one.  I  wish,  indeed,  that  you 
were  willing  to  promote  any  popular  measure  ;  for,  at  present, 
all  the  citizens  agree  wdth  one  mind  and  one  voice  in  their 
view  of  its  bearing  on  the  safety  of  the  republic. 

What  is  the  meaning,  then,  of  the  eagerness  to  pass  the  law 
which  brings  with  it  the  greatest  possible  infamy,  and  no  pop- 
ularity at  all  ?  For  what  can  be  more  discreditable  than  for 
a  man  who  has  committed  treason  against  the  Roman  people 
by  acts  of  violence,  after  he  has  been  condemned  by  a  legal 
decision,  to  be  able  to  return  to  that  very  course  of  violence, 
on  account  of  which  he  has  been  condemned  !  But  why  do  I 
argue  anymore  about  this  law?  as  if  the  object  aimed  at  were 
to  enable  any  one  to  appeal?  The  object  is,  the  inevitable 
consequence  must  be,  that  no  one  can  ever  be  prosecuted  un- 
der those  laws.  For  what  prosecutor  will  be  found  insane 
enough  to  be  willing,  after  the  defendant  has  been  condemned, 
to  expose  himself  to  the  fury  of  a  hired  mob?  or  wThat  judge 
wall  be  bold  enough  to  venture  to  condemn  a  criminal,  know- 
ing that  he  will  immediately  be  dragged  before  a  gang  of  hire- 
ling operatives?  It  is  not,  therefore,  a  right  of  appeal  that  is 
given  by  that  law,  but  two  most  salutary  laws  and  modes  of 
judicial  investigation  that  are  abolished.     And  what  is  this 


292  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

but  exhorting  young  men  to  be  turbulent,  seditious,  mischiev- 
ous citizens  ? 

To  what  extent  of  mischief  will  it  not  be  possible  to  insti- 
gate the  frenzy  of  the  tribunes  now  that  these  two  rights  of 
impeachment  for  violence  and  for  treason  are  annulled  ?  What 
more?  Is  not  this  a  substitution  of  a  new  law  for  the  laws  of 
Caesar,  which  enact  that  every  man  who  has  been  convicted  of 
violence,  and  also  every  man  who  has  been  convicted  of  trea- 
son, shall  be  interdicted  from  fire  and  water?  And,  when 
those  men  have  a  right  of  appeal  given  them,  are  not  the  acts 
of  Csesar  rescinded  ?  And  those  acts,  O  conscript  fathers,  I, 
who  never  approved  of  them,  have  still  thought  it  advisable  to 
maintain  for  the  sake  of  concord;  so  that  I  not  only  did  not 
think  that  the  laws  which  Caesar  had  passed  in  his  lifetime 
ought  to  be  repealed,  but  I  did  not  approve  of  meddling  with 
those  even  which  since  the  death  of  Caesar  you  have  seen  pro- 
duced and  published. 

X.  Men  have  been  recalled  from  banishment  by  a  dead 
man  ;  the  freedom  of  the  city  has  been  conferred,  not  only  on 
individuals,  but  on  entire  nations  and  provinces  by  a  dead 
man ;  our  revenues  have  been  diminished  by  the  granting  of 
countless  exemptions  by  a  dead  man.  Therefore,  do  we  defend 
these  measures  which  have  been  brought  from  his  house  on 
the  authority  of  a  single,  but,  I  admit,  a  very  excellent  indi- 
vidual ;  and  as  for  the  laws  which  he,  in  your  presence,  read, 
and  declared,  and  passed, — in  the  passing  of  which  he  gloried, 
and  on  which  he  believed  that  the  safety  of  the  republic  de- 
pended, especially  those  concerning  provinces  and  concerning 
judicial  proceedings, — can  we,  I  say,  we  who  defend  the  acts 
of  Caesar,  think  that  those  laws  deserve  to  be  upset ! 

And  yet,  concerning  those  laws  which  were  proposed,  we 
have,  at  all  events,  the  power  of  complaining ;  but  concerning 
those  which  are  actually  passed  we  have  not  even  had  that 
privilege.  For  they,  without  any  proposal  of  them  to  the 
people,  were  passed  before  they  were  framed.  Men  ask,  what 
is  the  reason  why  I,  or  why  any  one  of  you,  O  conscript 
fathers,  should  be  afraid  of  bad  laws  while  we  have  virtuous 
tribunes  of  the  people  ?  We  have  men  ready  to  interpose 
their  veto  ;  ready  to  defend  the  republic  with  the  sanctions  of 
religion.  We  ought  to  be  strangers  to  fear.  What  do  you 
mean  by  interposing  the  veto?  says  he;  what  are  all  these 
sanctions  of  religion  which  you  are  talking  about?     Those, 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  293 

forsooth,  on  which  the  safety  of  the  republic  depends.  We  are 
neglecting  those  things,  and  thinking  them  too  old-fashioned 
and  foolish.  The  forum  will  be  surrounded,  every  entrance  of 
it  will  be  blocked  up  ;  armed  men  will  be  placed  in  garrison, 
as  it  were,  at  many  points.  What  then  ! — whatever  is  accom- 
plished by  those  means  will  be  law.  And  you  will  order,  I 
suppose,  all  those  regularly-passed  decrees  to  be  engraved  on 
brazen  tablets.  u  The  consuls  consulted  the  people  in  regular 
form,"  (Is  this  the  way  of  consulting  the  people  that  we  have 
received  from  our  ancestors  ?)  "  and  the  people  voted  it  with 
due  regularity."  What  people  ?  that  which  was  excluded 
from  the  forum  ?  Under  what  law  did  they  do  so  ?  under 
that  which  has  been  wholly  abrogated  by  violence  and  arms  ? 
But  I  am  saying  all  this  with  reference  to  the  future ;  because 
it  is  the  part  of  a  friend  to  point  out  evils  which  may  be 
avoided :  and  if  they  never  ensue,  that  will  be  the  best  refuta- 
tion of  my  speech.  I  am  speaking  of  laws  which  have  been 
proposed ;  concerning  which  you  have  still  full  power  to  de- 
cide either  way.  I  am  pointing  out  the  defects ;  away  with 
them  !  I  am  denouncing  violence  and  arms ;  away  with  them 
too! 

XL  You  and  your  colleague,  O  Dolabella,  ought  not,  in- 
deed, to  be  angry  with  me  for  speaking  in  defense  of  the  re- 
public. Although  I  do  not  think  that  you  yourself  will  be  ;  I 
know  your  willingness  to  listen  to  reason.  They  say  that  your 
colleague,  in  this  fortune  of  his,  which  he  himself  thinks  so 
good,  but  which  would  seem  to  me  more  favorable  if  (not  to 
use  any  harsh  language)  he  were  to  imitate  the  example  set 
him  by  the  consulship  of  his  grandfathers  and  of  his  uncle, — 
they  say  that  he  has  been  exceedingly  offended.  And  I  see 
what  a  formidable  thing  it  is  to  have  the  same  man  angry  with 
me  and  also  armed ;  especially  at  a  time  when  men  can  use 
their  swords  with  such  impunity.  But  I  will  propose  a  con- 
dition which  I  myself  think  reasonable,  and  which  I  do  not 
imagine  Marcus  Antonius  will  reject.  If  I  have  said  any 
thins  insulting  against  his  way  of  life  or  against  his  morals.  I 
will  not  object  to  his  being  my  bitterest  enemy.  But  if  I  have 
maintained  the  same  habits  that  I  have  already  adopted  in  the 
republic, — that  is,  if  I  have  spoken  my  opinions  concerning 
the  affairs  of  the  republic  with  freedom, — in  the  first  place,  I 
beg  that  he  will  not  be  angry  with  me  for  that ;  but,  in  the 
next  place,  if  I  can  not  obtain  my  first  request,  I  beg  at  least 


294  CICEROS  ORATIONS. 

that  lie  will  show  his  anger  only  as  he  legitimately  may  show 
it  to  a  fellow-citizen. 

Let  him  employ  arms,  if  it  is  necessary,  as  he  says  it  is,  for 
his  own  defense :  only  let  not  those  arms  injure  those  men 
who  have  declared  their  honest  sentiments  in  the  affairs  of 
the  republic.  Now,  what  can  be  more  reasonable  than  this 
demand  ?  But  if,  as  has  been  said  to  me  by  some  of  his  inti- 
mate friends,  every  speech  which  is  at  all  contrary  to  his  in- 
clination is  violently  offensive  to  him,  even  if  there  be  no  in- 
sult in  it  whatever ;  then  we  will  bear  with  the  natural  dis- 
position of  our  friend.  But  those  men,  at  the  same  time,  say 
to  me,  "  You  will  not  have  the  same  license  granted  to  you 
who  are  the  adversary  of  Caesar  as  might  be  claimed  by  Piso 
his  father-in-law."  And  then  they  warn  me  of  something 
which  I  must  guard  against ;  and  certainly,  the  excuse  which 
sickness  supplies  me  with,  for  not  coming  to  the  senate, 
will  not  be  a  more  valid  one  than  that  which  is  furnished  by 
death. 

XII.  But,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods !  for  while  I 
look  upon  you,  O  Dolabella,  who  are  most  dear  to  me,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  keep  silence  respecting  the  error  into 
which  you  are  both  falling ;  for  I  believe  that  you,  being  both 
men  of  high  birth,  entertaining  lofty  views,  have  been  eager 
to  acquire,  not  money,  as  some  too  credulous  people  suspect, 
a  thing  which  has  at  all  times  been  scorned  by  every  honora- 
ble and  illustrious  man,  nor  power  procured  by  violence  and 
authority  such  as  never  ought  to  be  endured  by  the  Roman 
people,  but  the  affection  of  your  fellow-citizens,  and  glory. 
But  glory  is  praise  for  deeds  which  have  been  done,  and  the 
fame  earned  by  great  services  to  the  republic ;  which  is  ap- 
proved of  by  the  testimony  borne  in  its  favor,  not  only  by 
every  virtuous  man,  but  also  by  the  multitude.  I  would  tell 
you,  O  Dolabella,  what  the  fruit  of  good  actions  is,  if  I  did 
not  see  that  you  have  already  learned  it  by  experience  be- 
yond all  other  men. 

What  day  can  you  recollect  in  your  whole  life,  as  ever  hav- 
ing beamed  on  you  with  a  more  joyful  light  than  the  one  on 
which,  having  purified  the  forum,  having  routed  the  throng 
of  wicked  men,  having  inflicted  due  punishment  on  the  ring- 
leaders in  wickedness,  and  having  delivered  the  city  from  con- 
flagration and  from  fear  of  massacre,  you  returned  to  your 
house?     What  order  of  society,  what  class  of  people,  what 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  295 

rank  of  nobles  even  was  there  who  did  not  then  show  their 
zeal  in  praising  and  congratulating  you?  Even  I,  too,  be- 
cause men  thought  that  you  had  been  acting  by  my  advice 
in  those  transactions,  received  the  thanks  and  congratulations 
of  good  men  in  your  name.  Remember,  I  pray  you,  O  Dol- 
abella,  the  unanimity  displayed  on  that  day  in  the  theatre, 
when  every  one,  forgetful  of  the  causes  on  account  of  which 
they  had  been  previously  offended  with  you,  showed  that  in 
consequence  of  your  recent  service  they  had  banished  all  rec- 
ollection of  their  former  indignation.  Could  you,  O  Dolabel- 
la  (it  is  with  great  concern  that  I  speak), — could  you,  I  say, 
forfeit  this  dignity  with  equanimity1? 

XIII.  And  you,  O  Marcus  Antonius  (I  address  myself  to 
you,  though  in  your  absence),  do  you  not  prefer  that  day  on 
which  the  senate  was  assembled  in  the  temple  of  Tellus,  to 
all  those  months  during  which  some  who  differ  greatly  in 
opinion  from  me  think  that  you  have  been  happy?  What 
a  noble  speech  was  that  of  yours  about  unanimity !  From 
what  apprehensions  were  the  veterans,  and  from  what  anx- 
ietv  was  the  whole  state  relieved  bv  you  on  that  occasion! 
when,  having  laid  aside  your  enmity  against  him,  you  on 
that  day  first  consented  that  your  present  colleague  should 
be  your  colleague,  forgetting  that  the  auspices  had  been  an- 
nounced by  yourself  as  augur  of  the  Roman  people  ;  and 
when  your  little  son  was  sent  by  you  to  the  Capitol  to  be  a 
hostage  for  peace.  On  what  day  was  the  senate  ever  more 
joyful  than  on  that  day?  or  when  was  the  Roman  people 
more  delighted  1  which  had  never  met  in  greater  numbers  in 
any  assembly  whatever.  Then,  at  last,  we  did  appear  to  have 
been  really  delivered  by  brave  men,  because,  as  they  had  willed 
it  to  be,  peace  was  following  liberty.  On  the  next  day,  on 
the  day  after  that,  on  the  third  day,  and  on  all  the  following 
days,  you  went  on  without  intermission,  giving  every  day, 
it  were,  some  fresh  present  to  the  republic ;  but  the  greatest 
of  all  presents  was  that,  when  you  abolished  the  name  of  the 
dictatorship.  This  was  in  effect  branding  the  name  of  the 
dead  Caesar  with  everlasting  ignominy,  and  it  was  your  do- 
ing,— yours,  I  say.  For  as,  on  account  of  the  wickedness  of 
one  Marcus  Manlius,  by  a  resolution  of  the  Manlian  family  it 
is  unlawful  that  any  patrician  should  be  called  Manlius,  so 
you,  on  account  of  the  hatred  excited  by  one  dictator,  have 
ijiterlv  abolished  the  name  of  dictator. 


296  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

"When  you  had  done  these  mighty  exploits  for  the  safety  of 
the  republic,  did  you  repent  of  your  fortune,  or  of  the  dignity 
and  renown  and  glory  which  you  had  acquired  ?  Whence 
then  is  this  sudden  change !  I  can  not  be  induced  to  suspect 
that  you  have  been  caught  by  the  desire  of  acquiring  money ; 
every  one  may  say  what  he  pleases,  but  we  are  not  bound  to 
believe  such  a  thing ;  for  I  never  saw  any  thing  sordid  or  any 
thing  mean  in  you.  Although  a  man's  intimate  friends  do 
sometimes  corrupt  his  natural  disposition,  still  I  know  your 
firmness ;  and  I  only  wish  that,  as  you  avoid  that  mult,  you 
had  keen  able  also  to  escape  all  suspicion  of  it. 

XIV.  What  I  am  more  afraid  of  is  lest,  bein«;  ignorant  of 
the  true  path  to  glory,  you  should  think  it  glorious  for  you  to 
have  more  power  by  yourself  than  all  the  rest  of  the  people 
put  together,  and  lest  you  should  prefer  being  feared  by  your 
fellow-citizens  to  being  loved  by  them.  And  if  you  do  think 
so,  you  are  ignorant  of  the  road  to  glory.  For  a  citizen  to  be 
dear  to  his  fellow-citizens,  to  deserve  well  of  the  republic,  to 
be  praised,  to  be  respected,  to  be  loved,  is  glorious ;  but  to  be 
feared,  and  to  be  an  object  of  hatred,  is  odious,  detestable;  and, 
moreover,  pregnant  with  weakness  and  decay.  And  we  see 
that,  even  in  the  play,  the  very  man  who  said, 

u  What  care  I  though  all  men  should  hate  my  name, 
So  long  as  fear  accompanies  their  hater' 

found  that  it  was  a  mischievous  principle  to  act  upon. 

I  wish,  O  Antonius,  that  you  could  recollect  your  grandfa- 
ther, of  whom,  however,  you  have  repeatedly  heard  me  speak. 
Do  you  think  that  he  would  have  been  willing  to  deserve  even 
immortality,  at  the  price  of  being  feared  in  consequence  of  his 
licentious  use  of  arms?  What  he  considered  life,  what  he  con- 
sidered prosperity,  was  the  being  equal  to  the  rest  of  the  citi- 
zens in  freedom,  and  chief  of  them  all  in  worth.  Therefore, 
to  say  no  more  of  the  prosperity  of  your  grandfather,  I  should 
prefer  that  most  bitter  day  of  his  death  to  the  domination  of 
Lucius  China,  by  whom  he  was  most  barbarously  slain. 

But  why  should  I  seek  to  make  an  impression  on  you  by 
my  speech?  For,  if  the  end  of  Cains  Caesar  can  not  inlluence 
you  to  prefer  being  loved  to  being  feared,  no  speech  of  any  one 
will  do  any  good  or  have  any  influence  with  you  ;  and  those 
who  think  him  happy  are  themselves  miserable.  No  one  is 
happy  who  lives  on  such  terms  that  he  may  be  put  to  death 
not  merely  with  impunity,  but  even  to  the  great  glory  of  his 


THE  FIRST  PHILIPPIC.  297 

slayer.  Wherefore,  change  your  mind,  I  entreat  you,  and  look 
back  upon  your  ancestors,  and  govern  the  republic  in  such  a 
way  that  your  fellow-citizens  may  rejoice  that  you  were  born  ; 
without  which  no  one  can  be  happy  nor  illustrious. 

XV.  And,  indeed,  you  have  both  of  you  had  many  judg- 
ments delivered  respecting  you  by  the  Roman  people,  by 
which  I  am  greatly  concerned  that  you  are  not  sufficiently  in- 
fluenced. For  what  was  the  meaning  of  the  shouts  of  the  in- 
numerable crowd  of  citizens  collected  at  the  gladiatorial  games  ? 
or  of  the  verses  made  by  the  people  ?  or  of  the  extraordinary 
applause  at  the  sight  of  the  statue  of  Fompeius?  and  at  that 
sight  of  the  two  tribunes  of  the  people  who  are  opposed  to  you  % 
Are  these  things  a  feeble  indication  of  the  incredible  unanimi- 
ty  of  the  entire  Koman  people  ?  What  more  ?  Did  the  ap- 
plause at  the  games  of  Apollo,  or,  I  should  rather  say,  testi- 
mony and  judgment  there  given  by  the  Eoman  people,  appear 
to  you  of  small  importance?  Oh!  happy  are  those  men  who, 
though  they  themselves  were  unable  to  be  present  on  account 
of  the  violence  of  arms,  still  were  present  in  spirit,  and  had  a 
place  in  the  breasts  and  hearts  of  the  Eoman  people.  Unless, 
perhaps,  you  think  that  it  was  Accius  who  was  applauded  on 
that  occasion,  and  who  bore  off  the  palm  sixty  years  after  his 
first  appearance,  and  not  Brutus,  who  was  absent  from  the 
games  which  he  himself  was  exhibiting,  while  at  that  most 
splendid  spectacle  the  Eoman  people  showed  their  zeal  in  his 
favor  though  he  was  absent,  and  soothed  their  own  regret  for 
their  deliverer  by  uninterrupted  applause  and  clamor. 

I  myself,  indeed,  am  a  man  who  have  at  all  times  despised 
that  applause  which  is  bestowed  by  the  vulgar  crowd,  but  at 
the  same  time,  when  it  is  bestowed  by  those  of  the  highest, 
and  of  the  middle,  and  of  the  lowest  rank,  and,  in  short,  by 
all  ranks  together,  and  when  those  men  who  were  previously 
accustomed  to  aim  at  nothing  but  the  favor  of  the  people  keep 
aloof,  I  then  think  that,  not  mere  applause,  but  a  deliberate 
verdict.  If  this  appears  to  you  unimportant,  which  is  in  real- 
ity most  significant,  do  you  also  despise  the  fact  of  which  you 
have  had  experience — namely,  that  the  life  of  Aulus  Hirtius 
is  so  dear  to  the  Eoman  people  %  For  it  was  sufficient  for 
him  to  be  esteemed  by  the  Eoman  people  as  he  is ;  to  be  pop- 
ular among  his  friends,  in  which  respect  he  surpasses  every 
body ;  to  be  beloved  by  his  own  kinsmen,  who  do  love  him 
beyond  measure ;  but  in  whose  case  before  do  we  ever  recol- 

N2 


998  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

lect  such  anxiety  and  such  fear  being  manifested  ?     Certainly 
in  no  one's. 

What,  then,  are  we  to  do  ?  In  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods,  can  you  interpret  these  facts,  and  see  what  is  their  pur- 
port? What  do  you  think  that  those  men  think  of  your  lives, 
to  whom  the  lives  of  those  men  who  they  hope  will  consult 
the  welfare  of  the  republic  are  so  dear?  I  have  reaped,  O 
conscript  fathers,  the  reward  of  my  return,  since  I  have  said 
enough  to  bear  testimony  of  my  consistency  whatever  event 
may  befall  me,  and  since  I  have  been  kindly  and  attentively 
listened  to  by  you.  And  if  I  have  such  opportunities  frequent- 
ly without  exposing  both  myself  and  you  to  danger,  1  shall 
avail  myself  of  them.  If  not,  as  far  as  I  can  I  shall  reserve 
myself  not  for  myself,  but  rather  for  the  republic.  I  have 
lived  long  enough  for  the  course  of  human  life,  or  for  my  own 
glory.  If  any  additional  life  is  granted  to  me,  it  shall  be 
bestowed  not  so  much  on  myself  as  on  you  and  on  the  re- 
public. 


THE  SECOND  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MARCUS 

ANTONIUS. 

CALLED  ALSO  THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 


This  second  speech  was  not  actually  spoken  at  all.  Antonius  was  great- 
ly enraged  at  the  first  speech,  and  summoned  another  meeting  of  the 
senate  for  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  month,  giving  Cicero  especial  no- 
tice to  be  present,  and  he  employed  the  interval  in  preparing  an  invec- 
tive against  Cicero,  and  a  reply  to  the  first  Philippic.  The  senate  met 
in  the  temple  of  Concord,  but  Cicero  himself  was  persuaded  not  to  at- 
tend by  his  friends,  who  were  afraid  of  Antonius  proceeding  to  actual 
violence  against  him  (and  indeed  he  brought  a  strong  guard  of  armed 
men  with  him  to  the  senate).  He  spoke  with  the  greatest  fury  against 
Cicero,  charging  him  with  having  been  the  principal  author  and  con- 
triver of  Caesar's  murder,  hoping  by  this  to  inflame  the  soldiers,  whom 
he  had  posted  within  hearing  of  his  harangue. 

Soon  after  this,  Cicero  removed  to  a  villa  near  Naples  for  greater  safety, 
and  here  he  composed  this  second  Philippic,  which  he  did  not  publish 
immediately,  but  contented  himself  at  first  with  sending  a  copy  to  Bru- 
tus and  Cassius,  who  were  much  pleased  with  it. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  299 

I.  To  what  destiny  of  mine,  O  conscript  fathers,  shall  I  say 
that  it  is  owing,  that  none  for  the  last  twenty  years  has  been 
an  enemy  to  the  republic  without  at  the  same  time  declaring 
war  against  me  ?  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  naming  any 
particular  person  ;  you  yourselves  recollect  instances  in  proof 
of  my  statement.  They  have  all  hitherto  suffered  severer  pun- 
ishments than  I  could  have  wished  for  them  ;  but  I  marvel 
that  you,  O  Antonius,  do  not  fear  the  end  of  those  men  whose 
conduct  you  are  imitating.  And  in  others  I  was  less  surprised 
at  this.  None  of  those  men  of  former  times  was  a  voluntary 
enemy  to  me ;  all  of  them  were  attacked  by  me  for  the  sake 
of  the  republic.  But  you,  who  have  never  been  injured  by 
me,  not  even  by  a  word,  in  order  to  appear  more  audacious 
than  Catiline,  more  frantic  than  Clodius,  have  of  your  own 
accord  attacked  me  with  abuse.,  and  have  considered  that  your 
alienation  from  me  would  be  a  recommendation  of  you  to  im- 
pious citizens. 

What  am  I  to  think?  that  I  have  been  despised?  I  see 
nothing  either  in  my  life,  or  in  my  influence  in  the  city,  or  in 
my  exploits,  or  even  in  the  moderate  abilities  with  which  I  am 
endowed,  which  Antonius  can  despise.  Did  he  think  that  it 
was  easiest  to  disparage  me  in  the  senate  ?  a  body  which  has 
borne  its  testimony  in  favor  of  many  most  illustrious  citizens 
that  they  governed  the  republic  well,  but  in  favor  of  me  alone, 
of  all  men,  -that  I  preserved  it.  Or  did  he  wish  to  contend 
with  me  in  a  rivalry  of  eloquence !  This,  indeed,  is  an  act 
of  generosity?  for  what  could  be  a  more  fertile  or  richer  sub- 
ject for  me,  than  to  have  to  speak  in  defense  of  myself,  and 
against  Antonius?  This,  in  fact,  is  the  truth.  He  thought 
it  impossible  to  prove  to  the  satisfaction  of  those  men  who  re- 
sembled himself,  that  he  was  an  enemy  to  his  country,  if  he 
was  not  also  an  enemy  to  me.  And  before  I  make  him  any 
reply  on  the  other  topics  of  his  speech,  I  will  say  a  few  words 
respecting  the  friendship  formerly  subsisting  between  us,  which 
he  has  accused  me  of  violating, — for  that  I  consider  a  most 
serious  charge. 

II.  He  has  complained  that  I  pleaded  once  against  his  in- 
terest. Was  I  not  to  plead  against  one  with  whom  I  was  quite 
unconnected,  in  behalf  of  an  intimate  acquaintance,  of  a  dear 
friend  ?  Was  I  not  to  plead  against  interest  acquired  not  by 
hopes  of  virtue,  but  by  the  disgrace  of  youth  !  Was  I  not  to 
plead  against  an  injustice  which  that  man  procured  to  be  done 


300  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

by  the  obsequiousness  of  a  most  iniquitous  interposer  of  his 
veto,  not  by  any  law  regulating  the  privileges  of  the  praetor  ? 
But  I  imagine  that  this  was  mentioned  by  you,  in  order  that 
you  might  recommend  yourself  to  the  citizens,  if  they  all  rec- 
ollected that  you  were  the  son-in-law  of  a  freedman,  and 
that  your  children  were  the  grandsons  of  Quintus  Fadius  a 
freedman. 

But  you  had  entirely  devoted  yourself  to  my  principles 
(for  this  is  what  you  said) ;  you  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
coming  to  my  house.  In  truth,  if  you  had  done  so,  you  would 
more  have  consulted  your  own  character  and  your  reputation 
for  chastity.  But  you  did  not  do  so,  nor,  if  you  had  wished  it, 
would  Caius  Curio  have  ever  suffered  you  to  do  so.  You  have 
said,  that  you  retired  in  my  favor  from  the  contest  for  the  au- 
gurship.  Oh  the  incredible  audacity !  oh  the  monstrous  im- 
pudence of  such  an  assertion  !  For,  at  the  time  when  Cnaeus 
Pompeius  and  Quintus  Hortensius  named  me  as  augur,  after 
I  had  been  wished  for  as  such  by  the  whole  college  (for  it 
was  not  lawful  for  me  to  be  put  in  nomination  by  more  than 
two  members  of  the  college),  you  were  notoriously  insolvent, 
nor  did  you  think  it  possible  for  your  safety  to  be  secured  by 
any  other  means  than  by  the  destruction  of.  the  republic.  But 
was  it  possible  for  you  to  stand  for  the  augurship  at  a  time 
when  Curio  was  not  in  Italy  ?  or  even  at  the  time  when  you 
were  elected,  could  you  have  got  the  votes  of  one  single  tribe 
without  the  aid  of  Curio?  whose  intimate  friends  even  were 
convicted  of  violence  for  having  been  too  zealous  in  your  favor. 

III.  But  I  availed  myself  of  your  friendly  assistance.  Of 
what  assistance?  Although  the  instance  which  you  cite  I  have 
myself  at  all  times  openly  admitted.  I  preferred  confessing 
that  I  was  under  obligations  to  you,  to  letting  myself  appear 
to  any  foolish  person  not  sufficiently  grateful.  However,  what 
was  the  kindness  that  you  did  me?  not  killing  me  at  Brun- 
dusium  ?  Would  you  then  have  slain  the  man  whom  the  con- 
queror himself,  who  conferred  on  you,  as  you  used  to  boast, 
the  chief  rank  among  all  his  robbers,  had  desired  to  be  safe, 
and  had  enjoined  to  go  to  Italy?  Grant  that  you  could  have 
slain  him,  is  not  this,  O  conscript  fathers,  such  a  kindness  as 
is  done  by  banditti,  who  are  contented  with  being  able  to  boast 
that  they  have  granted  their  lives  to  all  those  men  whose  lives 
they  have  not  taken?  and  if  that  were  really  a  kindness,  then 
those  who  slew  that  man  by  whom  they  themselves  had  been 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  301 

saved,  and  whom  you  yourself  are  in  the  habit  of  styling  most 
illustrious  men,  would   never  have  acquired   such   immortal 
glorv.     But  what  sort  of  kindness  is  it,  to  have  abstained  from 
committing  nefarious  wickedness  1     It  is  a  case  in  which  it 
ought  not  to  appear  so  delightful  to  me  not  to  have  been  killed 
fay  yon,  as  miserable,  that  it  should  have  been  in  your  power 
to  do  such  a  thing  with  impunity.     However,  grant  that  it 
>vas  a  kindness,  since  no  greater  kindness  could  be  received 
from  a  robber,  still  in  what  point  can  you  call  me  ungrateful  ? 
Ought  I  not  to  complain  of  the  ruin  of  the  republic,  lest  I 
should   appear  ungrateful   toward  you?     But  in  that   com- 
plaint, mournful  indeed  and  miserable,  but  still  unavoidable 
for  a  man  of  that  rank  in  which  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome 
have  placed  me,  what  did  I  say  that  was  insulting  ?  that  was 
otherwise  than  moderate  ?  that  was  otherwise  than  friendly  ? 
and  what  instance  was  it  not  of  moderation  to  complain  of 
the  conduct  of  Marcus  Antonius,  and  yet  to  abstain  from  any 
abusive  expressions'?  especially  when  you  had  scattered  abroad 
all  relics  of  the  republic  ;  when  every  thing  was  on  sale  at  your 
house  by  the  most  infamous  traffic  ;  when  you  confessed  that 
those  laws  which  had  never  been  promulgated,  had  been  pass- 
ed with  reference  to  you,  and  by  you  ;  when  you,  being  augur, 
had  abolished  the  auspices,  being  consul,  had^taken  away  the 
power  of  interposing  the  veto ;  when  you  were  escorted  in  the 
most  shameful  manner  by  armed  guards ;  when,  worn  out  with 
drunkenness  and  debauchery,  you  were  every  day  performing 
all  sorts  of  obscenities  in  that  chaste  house  of  yours.     But  I, 
as  if  I  had  to  contend  against  Marcus  Crassus,  with  whom  I 
have  had  many  severe  struggles,  and  not  with  a  most  worth- 
less gladiator,  while  complaining  in  dignified  language  of  the 
state  of  the  republic,  did  not  say  one  word  which  could  be 
called  personal.     Therefore,  to-day  I  will  make  him  under- 
stand with  what  great  kindness  he  was  then  treated  by  me. 

IV.  But  he  also  read  letters  which  he  said  that  I  had  sent 
to  him,  like  a  man  devoid  of  humanity  and  ignorant  of  the 
common  usages  of  life.  For  who  ever,  who  was  even  but 
slightly  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  polite  men,  produced  in 
an  assembly  and  openly  read  letters  which  had  been  sent  to 
him  by  a  friend,  just  because  some  quarrel  had  arisen  between 
them  ?  Is  not  this  destroying  all  companionship  in  life,  de- 
stroying the  means  by  which  absent  friends  converse  together  ? 
How  many  jests  are  frequently  put  in  letters,  which,  if  they 


302.  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

were  produced  in  public,  would  appear  stupid !  How  many- 
serious  opinions,  which,  for  all  that,  ought  not  to  be  publish- 
ed !  Let  this  be  a  proof  of  your  utter  ignorance  of  courtesy. 
Now  mark,  also,  his  incredible  folly.  What  have  you  to  op- 
pose to  me,  O  you  eloquent  man,  as  you  seem  at  least  to  Mus- 
tela  Tamisius,  and  to  Tiro  Numisius?  And  while  these  men 
are  standing  at  this  very  time  in  the  sight  of  the  senate  with 
drawn  swords,  I  too  will  think  you  an  eloquent  man  if  you 
will  show  how  you  would  defend  them  if  they  were  charged 
with  being  assassins.  However,  what  answer  would  you  make 
if  I  were  to  deny  that  1  ever  sent  those  letters  to  you  ?  By 
what  evidence  could  you  convict  me?  by  my  handwriting? 
Of  handwriting  indeed  you  have  a  lucrative  knowledge.1  How 
can  you  prove  it  in  that  manner?  for  the  letters  are  written 
by  an  amanuensis.  By  this  time  I  envy  your  teacher,  who 
for  all  that  payment,  which  I  shall  mention  presently,  has 
taught  you  to  know  nothing. 

For  what  can  be  less  like,  I  do  not  say  an  orator,  but  a  man, 
than  to  reproach  an  adversary  with  a  thing  which  if  he  denies 
by  one  single  word,  he  who  has  reproached  him  can  not  ad- 
vance one  step  further  ?  But  I  do  not  deny  it ;  and  in  this 
very  point  I  convict  you  not  only  of  inhumanity  but  also  of 
madness.  For  jivhat  expression  is  there  in  those  letters  which 
is  not  full  of  humanity  and  service  and  benevolence?  and  the 
whole  of  your  charge  amounts  to  this,  that  I  do  not  express  a 
bad  opinion  of  you  in  those  letters ;  that  in  them  I  wrote  as 
to  a  citizen,  and  as  to  a  virtuous  man,  not  as  to  a  wicked  man 
and  a  robber.  But  your  letters  I  will  not  produce,  -although 
1  fairly  might,  now  that  I  am  thus  challenged  by  you ;  letters 
in  which  you  be<r  of  me  that  you  may  be  enabled  by  my  con- 
sent  to  procure  the  recall  of  some  one  from  exile ;  and  you 
will  not  attempt  it  if  I  have  any  objection,  and  you  prevail 
on  me  by  your  entreaties.  For  why  should  I  put  myself  in 
the  way  of  your  audacity?  when  neither  the  authority  of  this 
body,  nor  the  opinion  of  the  Roman  people,  nor  any  laws  are 
able  to  restrain  you.  However,  what  was  the  object  of  your 
addressing  these  entreaties  to  me,  if  the  man  for  whom  you 
were  entreating  was  already  restored  by  a  law  of  Caesar's  \  I 
suppose  the  truth  was,  that  he  wished  it  to  be  done  by  me 
as  a  favor ;    in  which  matter  there  could  not  be  any  favor 

1  He  moans  to  insinuate  that  Antonius  had  been  forging  Caesar's  hand- 
writing and  signature. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  303 

done  even  by  himself,  if  a  law  was  already  passed  for  the 
purpose. 

V.  But  as,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  have  many  things  which 
I  must  say  both  in  my  own  defense  and  against  Marcus  An- 
tonius,  one  thing  I  ask  you,  that  you  will  listen  to  me  with 
kindness  while  I  am  speaking  for  myself;  the  other  I  will  in- 
sure myself,  namely,  that  you  shall  listen  to  me  with  attention 
while  speaking  against  him.  At  the  same  time  also,  I  beg 
this  of  you;  that  if  you  have  been  acquainted  with  my  mod- 
eration and  modesty  throughout  my  whole  life,  and  especially 
as  a  speaker,  you  will  not,  when  to-day  I  answer  this  man  in 
the  spirit  in  which  he  has  attacked  me,  think  that  I  have  for- 
gotten my  usual  character.  I  will  not  treat  him  as  a  consul, 
for  he  did  not  treat  me  as  a  man  of  consular  rank  ;  and  al- 
though he  in  no  respect  deserves  to  be  considered  a  consul, 
whether  we  regard  his  way  of  life,  or  his  principle  of  govern- 
ing the  republic,  or  the  manner  in  which  he  was  elected,  I  am 
beyond  all  dispute  a  man  of  consular  rank. 

That,  therefore,  you  might  understand  what  sort  of  a  con- 
sul he  professed  to  be  himself,  he  reproached  me  with  my 
consulship  ; — a  consulship  which,  O  conscript  fathers,  was  in 
name,  indeed,  mine,  but  in  reality  yours.  For  what  did  I  de- 
termine, what  did  I  contrive,  what  did  I  do,  that  was  not  de- 
termined, contrived,  or  done,  by  the  counsel  and  authority  and 
in  accordance  with  the  sentiments  of  this  order?  And  have 
you,  O  wise  man,  O  man  not  merely  eloquent,  dared  to  find 
fault  with  these  actions  before  the  very  men  by  whose  counsel 
and  wisdom  they  were  performed  ?  But  who  was  ever  found 
before,  except  Publius  Clodius,  to  find  fault  with  my  consul- 
ship? And  his  fate  indeed  awaits  you,  as  it  also  awaited 
Caius  Curio ;  since  that  is  now  in  your  house  which  was  fatal 
to  each  of  them.1 

Marcus  Antonius  disapproves  of  my  consulship  ;  but  it  was 
approved  of  by  Publius  Servilius — to  name  that  man  first  of 
the  men  of  consular  rank  who  had  died  most  recently.  It  was 
approved  of  by  Quintus  Catulus,  whose  authority  will  always 
carry  weight  in  this  republic ;  it  was  approved  of  by  the  two 
Luculli,  by  Marcus  Crassus,  by  Quintus  Hortensius,  by  Caius 
Curio,  by  Caius  Piso,  by  Marcus  Glabrio,  by  Marcus  Lepidus, 
by  Lucius  Volcatius,  by  Caius  Figulus,  by  Decimus  Silanus 

1  Fulvia,  who  had  been  the  wife  of  Clodius,  and  afterward  of  Curio, 
was  now  the  wife  of  Antonius. 


304  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  Lucius  Murena,  who  at  that  time  were  the  consuls  elect; 
the  same  consulship  also  which  was  approved  of  by  those  men 
of  consular  rank,  was  approved  of  by  Marcus  Cato ;  who  es- 
caped many  evils  by  departing  from  this  life,  and  especially 
the  evil  of  seeing  you  consul.  But,  above  all,  my  consulship 
was  approved  of  by  Cna^us  Pompeius,  who,  when  he  first  saw 
me,  as  he  was  leaving  Syria,  embracing  me  and  congratulating 
me,  said,  that  it  was  owing  to  my  services  that  he  was  about 
to  see  his  country  again.  But  why  should  I  mention  individ- 
uals? It  was  approved  of  by  the  senate,  in  a  very  full  house, 
«o  completely,  that  there  was  no  one  who  did  not  thank  me 
as  if  I  had  been  his  parent,  who  did  not  attribute  to  me  the 
salvation  of  his  life,  of  his  fortunes,  of  his  children,  and  of  the 
republic. 

VI.  But,  since  the  republic  has  been  now  deprived  of  those 
men  whom  I  have  named,  many  and  illustrious  as  they  were, 
let  us  come  to  the  living,  since  two  of  the  men  of  consular 
rank  are  still  left  to  us:  Lucius  Cotta,  a  man  of  the  greatest 
genius  and  the  most  consummate  prudence,  proposed  a  sup- 
plication in  my  honor  for  those  very  actions  with  which  you 
find  fault,  in  the  most  complimentary  language,  and  those  \ery 
men  of  consular  rank  whom  I  have  named,  and  the  whole  sen- 
ate, adopted  his  proposal ;  an  honor  which  has  never  been  paid 
to  any  one  else  in  the  garb  of  peace  from  the  foundation  of 
the  city  to  my  time.  With  what  eloquence,  with  what  firm 
wisdom,  with  what  a  weight  of  authority  did  Lucius  Caesar, 
your  uncle,  pronounce  his  opinion  against  the  husband  of  his 
own  sister,  your  step-father.  But  you,  when  you  ought  to  have 
taken  him  as  your  adviser  and  tutor  in  all  your  designs,  and 
in  the  whole  conduct  of  your  life,  preferred  being  like  your 
step-father  to  resembling  your  uncle.  I,  who  had  no  connec- 
tion with  him,  acted  by  his  counsels  while  I  was  consul.  Did 
you,  who  were  his  sisters  son,  ever  once  consult  him  on  the 
affairs  of  the  republic'? 

But  who  are  they  whom  Antonius  does  consult  *?  O  ye  im- 
mortal gods,  they  are  men  whose  birth-days  we  have  still  to 
learn.  To-day  Antonius  is  not  coming  down.  Why  !  He  is 
celebrating  the  birth-day  feast  at  his  villa.  In  whose  honor? 
I  will  name  no  one.  Suppose  it  is  in  honor  of  some  Lhormio, 
or  Gnatho,  or  even  Ballio.1  Oh  the  abominable  profligacy 
of  the  man  !  oh  how  intolerable  is  his  impudence,  his  debauch- 
1  These  were  the  names  of  slaves 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  305 

eiy,  and  his  lust !  Can  you,  when  you  have  one  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  senate,  a  citizen  of  singular  virtue,  so  nearly  related  to 
you,  abstain  from  ever  consulting  him  on  the  affairs  of  the  re- 
public, and  consult  men  who  have  no  property  whatever  of 
their  own,  and  are  draining  yours? 

VII.  Yes,  your  consulship,  forsooth,  is  a  salutary  one  for 
the  state,  mine  a  mischievous  one.  Have  you  so  entirely  lost 
all  shame  as  well  as  all  chastity,  that  you  could  venture  to 
say  this  in  that  temple  in  which  I  was  consulting  that  senate 
which  formerly  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  its  honors  presided 
over  the  world?  And  did  you  place  around  it  abandoned 
men  armed  with  swords  ?  But  you  have  dared  besides  (what 
is  there  which  you  would  not  dare?)  to  say  that  the  Capito- 
line  Hill,  when  I  was  consul,  was  full  of  armed  slaves.  I  was 
offering  violence  to  the  senate,  I  suppose,  in  order  to  com- 
pel the  adoption  of  those  infamous  decrees  of  the  senate.  O 
wretched  man,  whether  those  things  are  not  known  to  you 
(for  you  know  nothing  that  is  good),  or  whether  they  are, 
when  you  dare  to  speak  so  shamelessly  before  such  men !  For 
what  Roman  knight  was  there,  what  youth  of  noble  birth  ex- 
cept you,  what  man  of  any  rank  or  class  who  recollected  that 
he  was  a  citizen,  who  was  not  on  the  Capitoline  Hill  while 
the  senate  was  assembled  in  this  temple  ?  who  was  there,  who 
did  not  give  in  his  name  ?  Although  there  could  not  be  pro- 
vided checks  enough,  nor  were  the  books  able  to  contain  their 
names. 

In  truth,  when  wicked  men,  being  compelled  by  the  reve- 
lations of  the  accomplices,  by  their  own  handwriting,  and  by 
what  I  mav  almost  call  the  voices  of  their  letters,  were  con- 
fessing  that  they  had  planned  the  parricidal  destruction  of  their 
country,  and  that  they  had  agreed  to  burn  the  city,  to  massacre 
the  citizens,  to  devastate  Italy,  to  destroy  the  republic ;  who 
could  have  existed  without  being  roused  to  defend  the  com- 
mon safety?  especially  when  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome 
had  a  leader  then  ;  and  if  they  had  one  now  like  he  was  then, 
the  same  fate  would  befall  you  which  did  overtake  them. 

He  asserts  that  the  body  of  his  step-father  was  not  allowed 
burial  by  me.  But  this  is  an  assertion  that  was  never  made 
by  Publius  Clodius,  a  man  whom,  as  I  was  deservedly  an  en- 
emy of  his,  I  grieve  now  to  see  surpassed  by  you  in  every  sort 
of  vice.  But  how  could  it  occur  to  you  to  recall  to  our  rec- 
ollection that  you  had  been  educated  in  the  house  of  Publius 


306  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


o 


Lentulus?  Were  you  afraid  that  we  might  think  that  you 
could  have  turned  out  as  infamous  as  you  are  by  the  mere 
force  of  nature,  if  your  natural  qualities  had  not  been  strength- 
ened by  education? 

YIII.  But  you  are  so  senseless  that  throughout  the  whole 
of  your  speech  you  were  at  variance  with  yourself  i  so  that 
you  said  things  which  had  not  only  no  coherence  with  each 
other,  but  which  were  most  inconsistent  with  and  contradict- 
ory to  one  another;  so  that  there  was  not  so  much  opposition 
between  you  and  me  as  there  was  between  vou  and  vourself. 
You  confessed  that  your  step-father  had  been  implicated  in 
that  enormous  wickedness,  yet  you  complained  that  he  had  had 
punishment  inflicted  on  him.  And  by  doing  fo  you  praised 
what  was  peculiarly  my  achievement,  and  blamed  that  which 
was  wholly  the  act  of  the  senate.  For  the  detection  and  ar- 
rest of  the  guilty  parties  was  my  work,  their  punishment  was 
the  work  of  the  senate.  But  that  eloquent  man  does  not 
perceive  that  the  man  against  whom  he  is  speaking  is  being 
praised  by  him,  and  that  those  before  whom  he  is  speaking 
are  beino-  attacked  by  him.  But  now  what  an  act,  1  will  not  ,/ 
say  of  audacity  (for  he  is  anxious  to  be  audacious),  but  (and 
that  is  what  he  is  not  desirous  of)  what  an  act  of  folly,  in 
which  he  surpasses  all  men,  is  it  to  make  mention  of  the  Cap- 
itoline  Hill,  at  a  time  when  armed  men  are  actually  between 
our  benches — when  men,  armed  with  swords,  are  now  sta- 
tioned in  this  same  temple  of  Concord,  O  ye  immortal  gods, 
in  which,  while  I  was  consul,  opinions  most  salutary  to  the 
state  were  delivered,  owing  to  which  it  is  that  we  are  all  alive 
at  this  day. 

1  Accuse  the  senate;  accuse  the  equestrian  body,  which  at 
that  time  was  united  with  the  senate  ;  accuse  every  order  of 
society,  and  all  the  citizens,  as  long  as  you  confess  that  this 
assembly  at  this  very  moment  is  besieged  by  Ityrcan1  soldiers. 
It  is  not  so  much  a  proof  of  audacity  to  advance  these  state- 
ments so  impudently,  as  of  utter  want  of  sense  to  be  unable 
to  see  their  contradictory  nature.  For  what  is  more  insane 
than,  after  you  yourself  have  taken  up  arms  to  do  mischief  to 
the  republic,  to  reproach  another  with  having  taken  them  up 
to  secure  its  safety?  On  one  occasion  you  attempted  even  to 
be  wittv.  O  ye  good  gods,  how  little  did  that  attempt  suit 
you!  And  yet  you  are  a  little  to  be  blamed  for  your  failure 
1  Ityra  was  a  town  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Taurus. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  307 

in  that  instance,  too.  For  you  might  have  got  some  wit  from 
your  wife,  who  was  an  actress.  "Arms  to  the  gown  must 
yield. "  Well,  have  they  not  yielded?  But  afterward  the 
gown  yielded  to  your  arms.  Let  us  inquire  then  whether  it 
was  better  for  the  arms  of  wicked  men  to  yield  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  Roman  people,  or  that  our  liberty  should  yield  to 
your  arms.  Nor  will  I  make  any  further  reply  to  you  about 
the  verses.  I  will  only  say  briefly  that  you  do  not  understand 
them,  nor  any  other  literature  whatever.  That  I  have  never 
at  any  time  been  wanting  to  the  claims  that  either  the  repub- 
lic or  my  friends  had  upon  me ;  but  nevertheless  that  in  all 
the  different  sorts  of  composition  on  which  I  have  employed 
myself,  during  my  leisure  hours,  I  have  always  endeavored  to 
make  my  labors  and  my  writings  such  as  to  be  some  advant- 
age to  our  youth,  and  some  credit  to  the  Roman  name.  But, 
however,  all  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  present  occasion. 
Let  us  consider  more  important  matters. 

IX.  You  have  said  that  Publius  Clodius  was  slain  by  my 
contrivance.  What  would  men  have  thought  if  he  had  been 
slain  at  the  time  when  you  pursued  him  in  the  forum  with  a 
drawn  sword,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  Roman  people  ;  and  when 
you  would  have  settled  his  business  if  he  had  not  thrown 
himself  up  the  stairs  of  a  booksellers  shop,  and,  shutting  them 
against  you,  checked  your  attack  by  that  means?  And  I 
confess  that  at  that  time  I  favored  you,  but  even  you  yourself 
do  not  say  that  I  had  advised  your  attempt.  But  as  for  Milo, 
it  was  not  possible  even  for  me  to  favor  his  action.  For  he 
had  finished  the  business  before  any  one  could  suspect  that  he 
was  going  to  do  it.  Oh,  but  I  advised  it.  I  suppose  Milo 
was  a  man  of  such  a  disposition  that  he  was  not  able  to  do  a 
service  to  the  republic  if  he  had  not  some  one  to  advise  him 
to  do  it.  But  I  rejoiced  at  it.  Well,  suppose  I  did  ;  was  I 
to  be  the  only  sorrowful  person  in  the  city,  when  every  one 
else  was  in  such  delight  ?  Although  that  inquiry  into  the 
death  of  Publius  Clodius  was  not  instituted  with  any  great 
wisdom.  For  what  was  the  reason  for  having  a  new  law  to 
inquire  into  the  conduct  of  the  man  who  had  slain  him,  when 
there  was  a  form  of  inquiry  already  established  by  the  laws ? 
However,  an  inquiry  was  instituted.  And  have  you  now 
been  found,  so  many  years  afterward,  to  say  a  thing  which, 
at  the  time  that  the  affair  was  under  discussion,  no  one  ven- 
tured to  say  against  me?     But  as  to  the  assertion  tnat  you 


308  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  dared  to  make,  and  that  at  great  length  too.  that  it  was 
by  my  means  that  Pompeius  was  alienated  from  his  friendship 
with  Caesar,  and  that  on  that  account  it  was  my  fault  that 
the  civil  war  was  originated;  in  that  you  have  not  erred  so 
much  in  the  main  facts,  as  (and  that  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance) in  the  times. 

X.  When  Marcus  Bibulus,  a  most  illustrious  citizen,  was 
consul,  I  omitted  nothing  which  I  could  possibly  do  or  at- 
tempt to  draw  off  Pompeius  from  his  union  with  Caesar.  In 
which,  however,  Caesar  was  more  fortunate  than  I,  for  he 
himself  drew  off  Pompeius  from  his  intimacy  with  me.  But 
afterward,  when  Pompeius  joined  Caasar  with  all  his  heart, 
what  could  have  been  my  object  in  attempting  to  separate 
them  then '?  It  would  have  been  the  part  of  a  fool  to  hope 
to. do  so,  and  of  an  impudent  man  to  advise  it.  However, 
two  occasions  did  arise,  on  which  I  gave  Pompeius  advice 
against  Caesar.  You  are  at  liberty  to  find  fault  with  my  con- 
duct on  those  occasions  if  you  can.  One  was  when  I  advised 
him  not  to  continue  Caesar's  government  for  five  years  more. 
The  other,  when  I  advised  him  not  to  permit  him  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  candidate  for  the  consulship  when  he  was  absent. 
And  if  I  had  been  able  to  prevail  on  him  in  either  of  these 
particulars,  we  should  never  have  fallen  into  our  present  mis- 
eries. 

Moreover,  I  also,  when  Pompeius  had  now  devoted  to  the 
service  of  Caesar  all  his  own  power,  and  all  the  power  of  the 
Poman  people,  and  had  begun  when  it  was  too  late  to  perceive 
all  those  things  which  I  had  foreseen  long  before,  and  when  I 
saw  that  a  nefarious  war  was  about  to  be  waged  against  our 
country,  I  never  ceased  to  be  the  adviser  of  peace,  and  concord, 
and  some  arrangement.  And  that  language  of  mine  was  well 
known  to  many  people, — "  I  wish,  O  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  that 
you  had  either  never  joined  in  a  confederacy  with  Caius  Caesar, 
or  else  that  you  had  never  broken  it  off.  The  one  conduct 
would  have  become  your  dignity,  and  the  other  would  have 
been  suited  to  your  prudence."  This,  O  Marcus  Antonius, 
was  at  all  times  my  advice  both  respecting  Pompeius  and  con- 
cerning the  republic.  And  if  it  had  prevailed,  the  republic 
would  still  be  standing,  and  you  would  have  perished  through 
your  own  crimes,  and  indigence,  and  infamy. 

XI.  But  these  are  all  old  stories  now.  This  charge,  how- 
ever, is  quite  a  modern  one,  that  Caesar  was  slain  by  my  con- 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  309 

trivance.  I  am  afraid,  O  conscript  fathers,  lest  I  should  ap- 
pear to  you  to  have  brought  up  a  sham  accuser  against  myself 
(which  is  a  most  disgraceful  thing  to  do) ;  a  man  not  only  to 
distinguish  me  by  the  praises  which  are  my  due,  but  to  load 
me  also  with  those  which  do  not  belong  to  me.  For  who  ever 
heard  my  name  mentioned  as  an  accomplice  in  that  most  glo- 
rious action  ?  and  whose  name  has  been  concealed  who  was 
in  the  number  of  that  gallant  band?  Concealed,  do  I  say? 
Whose  name  was  there  which  was  not  at  once  made  public? 
I  should  sooner  say  that  some  men  had  boasted  in  order  to  ap- 
pear to  have  been  concerned  in  that  conspiracy,  though  they 
had  in  reality  known  nothing  of  it,  than  that  any  one  who  had 
been  an  accomplice  in  it  could  have  wished  to  be  concealed. 
Moreover,  how  likely  it  is,  that  among  such  a  number  of  men, 
some  obscure,  some  young  men  who  had  not  the  Avit  to  con. 
ceal  any  one,  my  name  could  possibly  have  escaped  notice! 
Indeed,  if  leaders  were  wanted  for  the  purpose  of  delivering 
the  country,,  what  need  was  there  of  my  instigating  the  Bruti, 
one  of  whom  saw  every  day  in  his  house  the  image  of  Lucius 
Brutus,  and  the  other  saw  also  the  image  of  Ahala?  Were 
these  the  men  to  seek  counsel  from  the  ancestors  of  others 
rather  than  from  their  own  ?  and  out  of  doors  rather  than  at 
home  ?     What  1     Caius  Cassius,  a  man  of  that  family  which 

k could  not  endure,  I  will  not  say  the  domination,  but  even  the 
power  of  any  individual, — he,  I  suppose,  was  in  need  of  me  to 
instigate  him?  a  man  who,  even  without  the  assistance  of 
these  other  most  illustrious  men,  would  have  accomplished  this 
same  deed  in  Cilicia,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Cydnus,  if 
Gsesar  had  brought  his  ships  to  that  bank  of  the  river  which 
he  had  intended,  and  not  to  the  opposite  one.  Was  Cnaeus 
Domitius  spurred  on  to  seek  to  recover  his  dignity,  not  by  the 
death  of  his  father,  a  most  illustrious  man,  nor  by  the  death 
of  his  uncle,  nor  by  the  deprivation  of  his  own  dignity,  but 
by  my  advice  and  authority?  Did  I  persuade  Caius  Tre- 
bonius  ?  a  man  whom  I  should  not  have  ventured  even  to  ad- 
vise. On  which  account  the  republic  owes  him  even  a  larger 
debt  of  gratitude,  because  he  preferred  the  liberty  of  the  Ro- 
man people  to  the  friendship  of  one  man,  and  because  he  pre- 
ferred overthrowing  arbitrary  power  to  sharing  it.  Was  I  the 
instigator  whom  Lucius  Tillius  Cimber  followed  ?  a  man  whom 
I  admired  for  having  performed  that  action,  rather  than  ever 
expected  that  he  would  perform  it ;  and  I  admired  him  on 


310  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this  account,  that  he  was  unmindful  of  the  personal  kindness- 
es which  he  had  received,  but  mindful  of  his  country.  What 
shall  I  say  of  the  two  Servilii  1  Shall  I  call  them  Cascas,  or 
Ahalas?  and  do  you  think  that  those  men  were  instigated  by 
my  authority  rather  than  by  their  affection  for  the  republic? 
It  would  take  a  long  time  to  go  through  all  the  rest ;  and  it 
is  a  glorious  thing  for  the  republic  that  they  were  so  numer- 
ous, and  a  most  honorable  thing  also  for  themselves. 

XII.  But  recollect,  I  pray  you,  how  that  clever  man  con- 
victed me  of  being  an  accomplice  in  the  business.    When  Caesar 
was  slain,  says  he,  Marcus  Brutus  immediately  lifted  up  on  high 
his  bloody  dagger,  and  called  on  Cicero  by  name  ;  and  con- 
gratulated him  on  liberty  being  recovered.    Why  on  me  above 
all  men?     Because  I  knew  of  it  beforehand?     Consider  rather 
whether  this  was  not  his  reason  for  calling  on  me,  that,  when 
he  had  performed  an  action  very  like  those  which  I  myself  had 
done,  he  called  me  above  all  men  to  witness  that  he  had  been 
an  imitator  of  my  exploits.      But  you,  O  stupidest  of  all  men. 
do  not  you  perceive,  that  if  it  is  a  crime  to  have  wished  that 
Caesar  should  be  slain — which  you  accuse  me  of  having  wished 
— it  is  a  crime  also  to  have  rejoiced  at  his  death  1     For  what 
is  the  difference  between  a  man  who  has  advised  an  action,  and 
one  who  has  approved  of  it  ?  or  what  does  it  signify  wheth- 
er I  wished  it  to  be  done,  or  rejoice  that  it  has  been  done? 
Is  there  any  one  then,  except  you  yourself  and  those  men  who 
wished  him  to  become  a  king,  who  was  unwilling  that  that 
deed  should  be  done,  or  who  disapproved  of  it  after  it  was 
done  1     All  men,  therefore,  are  guilty  as  far  as  this  goes.     In 
truth,  all  good  men,  as  far  as  it  depended  on  them,  bore  a  part 
in  the  slaying  of  Caesar.     Some  did  not  know  how  to  contrive 
it,  some  had  not  courage  for  it,  some  had  no  opportunity, — 
every  one  had  the  inclination. 

However,  remark  the  stupidity  of  this  fellow, — I  should 
rather  say,  of  this  brute  beast.  For  thus  he  spoke  :+— "  Mar* 
cus  Brutus,  whom  I  name  to  do  him  honor,  holding  aloft 
his  bloody  dagger,  called  upon  Cicero,  from  which  it  must  be 
understood  that  he  was  privy  to  the  action.'*  Am  I  then 
called  wicked  by  you  because  you  suspect  that  I  suspected 
something;  and  is  he  who  openly  displayed  his  reeking  dag- 
ger, named  by  you  that  you  may  do  him  honor?  Be  it  so. 
Let  this  stupidity  exist  in  your  language:  how  much  greater 
is  it  in  your  actions  and  opinions !      Arrange  matters  in  this 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  311 

way  at  last,  O  consul ;  pronounce  the  cause  of  the  Bruti,  of 
Caius  Cassius,  of  Cnaeus  Domitius,  of  Cains  Trebonius"  and  the 
rest  to  be  whatever  you  please  to  call  it :  sleep  off  that  intox- 
ication of  yours,  sleep  it  off  and  Jake  breath.  Must  one  ap- 
ply a  torch  to  you  to  waken  you  while  you  are  sleeping  over 
such  an  important  affair?  Will  you  never  understand  that 
you  have  to  decide  whether  those  men  who  performed  that 
action  are  homicides  or  assertors  of  freedom  ? 

XIII.  For  just  consider  a  little;   and  for  a  moment  think 
of  the  business  like  a  sober  man.     I  who,  as  I  myself  confess, 
am  an  intimate  friend  of  those  men,  and,  as  you  accuse  me, 
an  accomplice  of  theirs,  deny  that  there  is  any  medium  be- 
tween these  alternatives.     I  confess  that  they^f  they  be  not 
deliverers  of  the  Roman  people  and  saviors  of  the  republic, 
are  worse   than  assassins,  worse  than  homicides,  worse  even 
than  parricides:  since  it  is  a  more  atrocious  thing  to  murder 
the  father  of  one's  country,  than  one's  own  father.     You  wise 
and  considerate  man,  what  do  you  say  to  this  1     If  they  are 
parricides,  why  are  they  always  named  by  you,  both  in  this 
assembly  and  "before  the  Eoman  people,  with  a  view  to  do 
them  honor'?     Why  has  Marcus  Brutus  been,  on  your  motion, 
excused  from  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  allowed  to  be  absent 
from  the  city  more  than  ten  days?1     Why  were  the  games  of 
Apollo  celebrated  with  incredible  honor  to  Marcus  Brutus? 
why  were  provinces  given  to  Brutus  and  Cassius  1  why  were 
quaestors  assigned  to  them?  why  was   the  number  of  their 
lieutenants  augmented?     And  all  these  measures  were  ow- 
ing to  you.     They  are  not  homicides  then.     It  follows  that  in 
your  opinion  they  are  deliverers  of  their  country,  since  there 
can  be  no  other  alternative.     What  is  the  matter?     Am  I 
embarrassing  you?     For  perhaps  you  do  not  quite  understand 
propositions  which  are  stated  disjunctively.     Still  this  is  the 
sum  total  of  my  conclusion ;  that  since  they  are  acquitted  by 
you  of  wickedness,   they  are  at   the   same   time  pronounced 
most  worthy  of  the  very  most  honorable  rewards. 

Therefore,  I  will  now  proceed  again  with  my  oration.  I 
will  write  to  them,  if  any  one  by  chance  should  ask  whether 
what  you  have  imputed  to  me  be  true,  not  to  deny  it  to  any 
one.     In  truth,  I  am  afraid  that  it  must  be  considered  either 

1  Brutus  was  the  Praetor  urbanus  this  year,  and  that  officer's  duty  con- 
fined him  to  the  city  ;  and  he  was  forbidden  by  law  to  be  absent  more 
than  ten  days  at  a  time  during  his  year  of  office. 


hT2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

a  not  very  creditable  thing  to  them,  that  they  should  have 
concealed  the  fact  of  my  being  an  accomplice  ;  or  else  a  most 
discreditable  one  to  me  that  I  was  invited  to  be  one,  and  that 
I  shirked  it.     For  what  greater  exploit  (I  call  you  to  witness, 

0  august  Jupiter!)  was  ever  achieved  not  only  in  this  city, 
but  in  all  the  earth  ?  What  more  glorious  action  was  ever 
done?  What  deed  was  ever  more  deservedly  recommended  to 
the  everlasting  recollection  of  men  ?  Do  you,  then,  shut  me 
up  with  the  other  leaders  in  the  partnership  in  this  design,  as 
in  the  Trojan  horse?  I  have  no  objection;  I  even  thank  you 
for  doing  so,  with  whatever  intent  you  do  it.  For  the  deed 
is  so  great  an  one,  that  I  can  not  compare  the  unpopularity 
which  you  wish  to  excite  against  me  on  account  of  it,  with  its 
real  glory. 

>  ")  For  who  can  be  happier  than  those  men  Avhom  you  boast 
of  having  now  expelled  and  driven  from  the  eity  \  What 
place  is  there  either  so  deserted  or  so  uncivilized,  as  not  to 
seem  to  greet  and  to  covet  the  presence  of  those  men  wherever 
they  have  arrived?  What  men  are  so  clownish  as  not,  when 
they  have  once  beheld  them,  to  think  that  they  have  reaped 
the  greatest  enjoyment  that  life  can  give  !.  And  what  poster- 
ity will  be  ever  so  forgetful,  what  literature  will  ever  be  found 
so  ungrateful,  as  not  to  cherish  their  glory  with  undying  recol- 
lection ?  Enrol  me  then,  I  beg,  in  the  number  of  those  men. 
XIV.  But  one  thing  I  am  afraid  you  may  not  approve  of. 
For  if  I  had  really  been  one  of  their  number,  I  should  have 
not  only  got  rid  of  the  king,  but  of  the  kingly  power  also  out 
of  the  republic;  and  if  I  had  been  the  author  of  the  piece,  as 
it  is  said,  believe  me,  I  should  not  have  been  contented  with 
one  act,  but  should  have  finished  the  whole  play.  Although, 
if  it  be  a  crime  to  have  wished  that  Csesar  might  be  put  to 
death,  beware,  I  pray  you,  O  Antonius,  of  what  must  be  your 
own  case,  as  it  is  notorious  that  you,  when  at  Narbo,  formed 
a  plan  of  the  same  sort  with  Caius  Trebonius ;  and  it  was  on 
account  of  your  participation  in  that  design  thai,  when  Csesar 
A\as  being  killed,  avc  saw  you  called  aside  by  Trebonius.     But 

1  (see  Iioav  far  I  am  from  any  horrible  inclination  toAvard,) 
j iraise  you  for  having  once  in  your  life  had  a  righteous  inten- 
tion ;  I  return  you  thanks  for  not  having  revealed  the  matter; 
and  I  excuse  you  for  not  having  accomplished  your  purpose. 
That  exploit  required  a  man. 

And  if  any  one  should  institute  a  prosecution  against  you. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  313 

and  employ  that  test  of  old  Cassius,  "  who  reaped  any  advant- 
age from  it  V  take  care,  I  advise  you,  lest  you  suit  that  de- 
scription.     Although,  in  truth,  that  action  was,  as  you  used 
to  say,  an  advantage  to  every  one  who  was  not  willing  to  be 
a  slave,  still  it  was  so  to  you  above  all  men,  who  are  not 
merely  not  a  slave,  but  are  actually  a  king ;   who  delivered 
yourself  from  an  enormous  burden  of  debt  at  the  temple  of 
Ops;    who,  by  your  dealings  with  the  account-books,  there 
squandered  a  countless  sum  of  money ;   who  have  had  such 
vast  treasures  brought  to  you  from  Caesar's  house ;  at  whose 
own  house  there  is  set  up  a  most  lucrative  manufactory  of 
false  memoranda  and  autographs,  and  a  most  iniquitous  mark- 
et  of  lands,  and   towns,  and  exemptions,  and   revenues.     In 
truth,  what  measure  except  the  death  of  Caesar  could  possibly 
have  been  any  relief  to  your  indigent  and  insolvent  condition  ? 
You  appear  to  be  somewhat  agitated.     Have  you  any  secret 
fear  that  you  yourself  may  appear  to  have  had  some  connection 
with  that  crime  ?     I  will  release  you  from  all  apprehension  ; 
no  one  will  ever  believe  it ;   it  is  not  like  you  to  deserve  well 
of  the  republic ;  the  most  illustrious  men  in  the  republic  are 
the  authors  of  that  exploit;   I  only  say  that  you  are  glad  it 
was  done ;  I  do  not  accuse  you  of  having  done  it. 

I  have  replied  to  your  heaviest  accusations,  I  must  now  also 
reply  to  the  rest  of  them. 

XV.  You  have  thrown  in  my  teeth  the  camp  of  Pompeius 
and  all  my  conduct  at  that  time.  At  which  time,  indeed,  if, 
as  I  have  said  before,  my  counsels  and  my  authority  had  pre- 
vailed, you  would  this  day  be  in  indigence,  we  should  oe  free, 
and  the  republic  would  not  have  lost  so  many  generals  and  so 
many  armies.  For  I  confess  that,  when  I  saw  that-these 
things  certainly  would  happen,  which  now  have  happened,  I 
was  as  greatly  grieved  as  all  the  other  virtuous  citizens  would 
have  been  if  they  had  foreseen  the  same  things.  I  did  grieve, 
I  did  grieve,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  the  republic  which  had 
once  been  saved  by  your  counsels  and  mine,  was  fated  to  perish 
in  a  short  time.  Nor  was  I  so  inexperienced  in  and  ignorant 
of  this  nature  of  things,  as  to  be  disheartened  on  account  of 
a  fondness  for  life,  which  while  it  endured  would  wear  me  out 
with  anguish,  and  when  brought  to  an  end  would  release  me 
from  all  trouble.  But  I  was  desirous  that  those  most  illustri- 
ous men,  the  lights  of  the  republic,  should  live  :  so  many  men 
of  consular  rank,  so  many  men  of  praetorian  rank,  so  many 

O 


514  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

most  honorable  senators ;  and  besides  them  all  the  flower  of 
our  nobility  and  of  our  youth ;  and  the  armies  of  excellent 
citizens.  And  if  they  were  still  alive,  under  ever  such  hard 
conditions  of  peace  (for  any  sort  of  peace  with  our  fellow- 
citizens  appeared  to  me  more  desirable  than  civil  war),  we 
should  be  still  this  day  enjoying  the  republic. 

And  if  my  opinion  had  prevailed,  and  if  those  men,  the 
preservation  of  whose  lives  was  my  main  object,  elated  with 
the  hope  of  victory,  had  not  been  my  chief  opposers,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  results,  at  all  events  you  would  never  have 
continued  in  this  order,  or  rather  in  this  city.     But  say  you, 
my  speech  alienated  from  me  the  regard  of  Pompeius  ?     Was 
there  any  one  to  whom  he  Avas  more  attached L?  any  one  with 
whom  he  conversed  or  shared  his  counsels  more  frequently  ? 
It  was,  indeed,  a  great  thing  that  we,  differing  as  we  did  re- 
specting the  general  interests  of  the  republic,  should  continue 
in   uninterrupted   friendship.      But   I   saw   clearly  what  his 
opinions  and  views  were,  and  he  saw  mine  equally.     I  was 
for  providing  for  the  safety  of  the  citizens  in  the  first  place, 
in  order  that  we  might  be  able  to  consult  their  dignity  after- 
ward,    lie  thought  more  of  consulting  their  existing  dignity. 
But  because  each  of  us  had  a  definite  object  to  pursue,  our 
disagreement  was  the  more  endurable.     But  what  that  extra- 
ordinary and  almost  godlike  man  thought  of  me  is  known  to 
those  men  who  pursued  him  to  Paphos  from  the  battle  of 
Pharsalia.     No  mention  of  me  was  ever  made  by  him  that 
was  not  the  most  honorable  that  could  be,  that  was  not  full 
of  the  most  friendly  regret  for  me ;  while  he  confessed  that  I 
had  had  the  most  foresight,  but  that  he  had  had  more  san- 
guine hopes.     And  do  you  dare  taunt  me  with  the  name  of 
that  man  whose  friend  you  admit  that  I  was,  and  whose  as- 
sassin you  confess  yourself? 

XVI.  However,  let  us  say  no  more  of  that  war,  in  which 
you  were  too  fortunate.  I  will  not  reply  even  with  those 
jests  to  which  you  have  said  that  I  gave  utterance  in  the 
camp.  That  camp  was  in  truth  full  of  anxiety,  but  although 
men1  are  in  great  difficulties,  still,  provided  they  are  men,  they 
sometimes  relax  their  minds.  But  the  fact  that  the  same 
man  finds  fault  with  my  melancholy,  and  also  with  my  jokes, 
is  a  great  proof  that  I  was  very  moderate  in  each  particular. 

You  have  said  that  no  inheritances  come  to  me.      Would 
..hat  this  accusation  of  yours  were  a  true  one;  I  should  havo 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  315 

more  of  my  friends  and  connections  alive.  But  how  could 
such  a  charge  ever  come  into  your  head?  For  I  have  re- 
ceived more  than  twenty  millions  of  sesterces  in  inheritances. 
Although  in  this  particular  1  admit  that  you  have  been  more 
fortunate  than  I.  No  one  has  ever  made  me  his  heir  except 
he  was  a  friend  of  mine,  in  order  that  my  grief  of  mind  for 
his  loss  might  be  accompanied  also  with  some  gain,  if  it  was 
to  be  considered  as  such.  But  a  man  whom  you  never  even 
saw,  Lucius  Eubrius,  of  Casinum,  made  you  his  heir.  And 
see  now  how  much  he  loved  you,  who,  though  he  did  not 
know  whether  you  were  white  or  black,  passed  over  the  son 
of  his  brother,  Quintus  Fufius,  a  most  honorable  Roman 
knight,  and  most  attached  to  him,  whom  he  had  on  all  occa- 
sions openly  declared  his  heir  (he  never  even  names  him  in 
his  will),  and  he  makes  you  his  heir  whom  he  had  never  seen, 
or  at  all  events  had  never  spoken  to. 

I  wish  you  would  tell  me,  if  it  is  not  too  much  trouble, 
what  sort  of  countenance  Lucius  Turselius  was  of;  what  sort 
of  height ;  from  what  municipal  town  he  came  ;  and  of  what 
tribe  he  was  a  member.  "I  know  nothing."  you  will  say, 
"about  him,  except  what  farms  he  had."  Therefore,  he,  dis- 
inheriting his  brother,  made  you  his  heir.  And  besides  these 
instances,  this  man  has  seized  on  much  other  property  be- 
longing to  men  wholly  unconnected  with  him,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  legitimate  heirs,  as  if  he  himself  were  the  heir. 
Although  the  thing  that  struck  me  with  most  astonishment 
of  all  was,  that  you  should  venture  to  make  mention  of  in- 
heritances, when  you  yourself  had  not  received  the  inheritance 
of  vour  own  father. 

XVII.  And  was  it  in  order  to  collect  all  these  arguments, 
O  you  most  senseless  of  men,  that  you  spent  so  many  days  in 
practicing  declamation  in  another  man's  villa !  Although, 
indeed  (as  your  most  intimate  friends  usually  say),  you  are 
in  the  habit  of  declaiming,  not  for  the  purpose  of  whetting 
your  genius,  but  of  working  off  the  effects  of  wine.  And,  in- 
deed, you  employ  a  master  to  teach  you  jokes,  a  man  appoint- 
ed by  your  own  vote  and  that  of  your  boon  companions ;  a 
rhetorician,  whom  you  have  allowed  to  say  whatever  he 
pleased  against  you,  a  thoroughly  facetious  gentleman  ;  but 
there  are  plenty  of  materials  for  speaking  against  you  and 
against  your  friends.  But  just  see  now  what  a  difference 
there  is  between  you  and  your  grandfather.     He  used  with 


316  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

great  deliberation  to  bring  forth  arguments  advantageous  to 
the  cause  he  was  advocating ;  you  pour  forth  in  a  hurry  the 
sentiments  which  you  have  been  taught  by  another.  And 
what  wages  have  you  paid  this  rhetorician  ?     Listen,  listen, 

0  conscript  fathers,  and  learn  the  blows  which  are  inflicted 
on  the  republic.  You  have  assigned,  O  Antonius,  two  thou- 
sand acres1  of  land,  in  the  Leontine  district,  to  Sextus  Clodi- 
us,  the  rhetorician,  and  those,  too,  exempt  from  every  kind  of 
tax,  for  the  sake  of  putting  the  Roman  people  to  such  a  vast 
expense  that  you  might  learn  to  be  a  fool.  Was  this  gift, 
too,  O  you  most  audacious  of  men,  found  among  Caesar's  pa- 
pers? But  I  will  take  another  opportunity  to  speak  about 
the  Leontine  and  the  Campanian  district;  where  he  has  stolen 
lands  from  the  republic  to  pollute  them  with  most  infamous 
owners.  For  now,  since  I  have  sufficiently  replied  to  all  his 
charges,  I  must  say  a  little  about  our  corrector  and  censor 
himself.     And  yet  I  will  not  say  all  I  could,  in  order  that  if 

1  have  often  to  battle  with  him  I  may  always  come  to  the 
contest  with  fresh  arms;  and  the  multitude  of  his  vices  and 
atrocities  will  easily  enable  me  to  do  so. 

XVIII.  Shall  we  then  examine  your  conduct  from  the  time 
when  you  were  a  boy?  I  think  so.  Let  us  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning. Do  you  recollect  that,  while  you  were  still  clad  in 
the  prsetexta,  you  became  a  bankrupt  ?  That  was  the  fault 
of  your  father,  you  will  say.  I  admit  that.  In  truth,  such  a 
defense  is  full  of  filial  affection.  But  it  is  peculiarly  suited  to 
your  own  audacity,  that  you  sat  among  the  fourteen  rows  of 
the  knights,  though  by  the  Roscian  law  there  was  a  place  ap- 
pointed for  bankrupts,  even  if  any  one  had  become  such  by 
the  fault  of  fortune  and  not  by  his  own.  You  assumed  the 
manly  gown,  which  you  soon  made  a  womanly  one  :  at  first 
a  public  prostitute,  with  a  regular  price  for  your  wickedness, 
and  that  not  a  low  one.  But  very  soon  Curio  stepped  in,  who 
carried  you  off  from  your  public  trade,  and,  as  if  he  had  be- 
stowed a  matron's  robe  upon  you,  settled  you  in  a  steady  and 
durable  wedlock.  No  boy  bought  for  the  gratification  of  pas- 
sion was  ever  so  wholly  in  the  power  of  his  master  as  you  were 
in  Curio's.      How  often  has  his  father  turned  you  out  of  his 

1  I  have  translated  jugerum  "  an  acre,"  because  it  is  usually  so  trans- 
lated, but  in  point  of  fact  it  was  not  quite  two-thirds  of  an  English  acre. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  nearly  three  times  as  largo  as  the  Greek  7rXidpovk 
which  is  often  translated  acre  also. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  317 

house  1  How  often  has  he  placed  guards  to  prevent  you  from 
entering?  while  you.  with  night  for  your  accomplice,  lust  for 
your  encourager,  and  wages  for  your  compeller,  were  let  down 
through  the  roof.  That  house  could  no  longer  endure  your 
wickedness.  Do  you  not  know  that  -I  am  speaking  of  matters 
with  which  I  am  thoroughly  acquainted?  Remember  that 
time  when  Curio,  the  father,  lay  weeping  in  his  bed  ;  his  son 
throwing  himself  at  my  feet  with  tears  recommended  to  me 
you  ;  he  entreated  me  to  defend  you  against  his  own  father, 
if  he  demanded  six  millions  of  sesterces  of  you  ;  for  that  he 
had  been  bail  for  you  to  that  amount.  And  he  himself,  burn- 
ing with  love,  declared  positively  that  because  he  was  unable 
to  bear  the  misery  of  being  separated  from  you,  he  should  go 
into  banishment.  And  at  that  time  what  misery  of  that  most 
flourishing  family  did  I  allay,  or  rather  did  I  remove  !  I  per- 
suaded the  father  to  pay  the  son's  debts ;  to  release  the  young 
man,  endowed  as  he  was  with  great  promise  of  courage  and 
ability,  by  the  sacrifice  of  part  of  his  family  estate  ;  and  to 
use  his  privileges  and  authority  as  a  father  to  prohibit  him 
not  only  from  all  intimacy  with,  but  from  every  opportunity 
of  meeting  vou.  When  you  recollected  that  all  this  was  done 
bv  me,  would  you  have  dared  to  provoke  me  by  abuse  if  you 
had  not  been  trusting  to  those  swords  which  we  behold  1 

XIX.  But  let  us  say  no  more  of  your  profligacy  and  de- 
bauchery. There  are  things  which  it  is  not  possible  for  me 
to  mention  with  honor ;  but  you  are  all  the  more  free  for  that, 
inasmuch  as  you  have  not  scrupled  to  be  an  actor  in  scenes 
which  a  modest  enemy  can  not  bring  himself  to  mention. 

Mark  now,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  rest  of  his  life,  which  I 
will  touch  upon  rapidly.  For  my  inclination  hastens  to  ar- 
rive at  those  things  which  he  did  in  the  time  of  the  civil  war, 
amid  the  greatest  miseries  of  the  republic  and  at  those  things 
which  he  does  every  day.  And  I  beg  of  you,  though  they  are 
far  better  known  to  you  than  they  are  to  me,  still  to  listen  at- 
tentively, as  you  are  doing,  to  my  relation  of  them.  For  in 
such  cases  as  this,  it  is  not  the  mere  knowledge  of  such  actions 
that  ought  to  excite  the  mind,  but  the  recollection  of  them 
also.  Although  we  must  at  once  go  into  the  middle  of  them, 
lest  otherwise  we  should  be  too  long  in  coming  to  the  end. 

He  was  very  intimate  with  Clodius  at  the  time  of  his  trib- 
uneship ;  he,  wrho  now  enumerates  the  kindnesses  which  he 
did  me.     He  was  the  firebrand  to  handle  all  conflagrations,* 


318  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  even  in  his  house  he  attempted  something.  He  himself 
well  knows  what  I  allude  to.  From  thence  he  made  a  jour- 
ney to  Alexandria,  in  defiance  of  the  authority  of  the  senate, 
and  against  the  interests  of  the  republic,  and  in  spite  of  re- 
ligious obstacles;  but  he  had  Gabinius  for  his  leader,  with 
whom  whatever  he  did  was  sure  to  be  right.  What  were  the 
circumstances  of  his  return  from  thence  %  what  sort  of  return 
was  it?  He  went  from  Egypt  to  the  farthest  extremity  of 
Gaul  before  he  returned  home.  And  what  was  his  homel 
For  at  that  time  every  man  had  possession  of  his  own  house ; 
and  you  had  no  house  any  where,  O  Antonius.  House,  do 
you  say?  what  place  was  there  in  the  whole  world  where  you 
could  set  your  foot  on  any  thing  that  belonged  to  you,  except 
Mienum,  which  you  farmed  with  your  partners,  as  if  it  had 
been  Sisapol1 

XX.  You  came  from  Gaul  to  stand  for  the  quoestorship. 
Dare  to  say  that  you  went  to  your  own  father  before  you 
came  to  me.  I  had  already  received  Ca-sar's  letters,  begging 
me  to  allow  myself  to  accept  of  your  excuses;  and  therefore, 
I  did  not  allow  you  even  to  mention  thanks.  After  that,  I 
was  treated  with  respect  by  you,  and  you  received  attentions 
from  me  in  your  canvass  for  the  quastorship.  And  it  was  at 
that  time,  indeed,  that  you  endeavored  to  slay  Publius  Clo- 
dius  in  the  forum,  with  the  approbation  of  the  E<man  peo- 
ple ;  and  though  you  made  the  attempt  of  your  own  accord, 
and  not  at  my  instigation,  still  you  clearly  alleged  that  you 
did  not  think,  unless  you  slew  him,  that  you  could  possibly 
make  amends  to  me  for  all  the  injuries  which  you  had  done 
me.  And  this  makes  me  wonder  why  you  should  say  that 
Milo  did  that  deed  at  my  instigation  ;  when  I  never  once  ex- 
horted you  to  do  it,  who  of  your  own  accord  attempted  to  do 
me  the  same  service.  Although,  if  you  had  persisted  in  it,  I 
should  have  preferred  allowing  the  action  to  be  set  down  en- 
tirely to  your  own  love  of  glory  rather  than  to  my  influence. 

You  were  elected  quasstor.  On  this,  immediately,  without 
any  resolution  of  the  senate  authorizing  such  a  step,  without 
drawing  lots,  without  procuring  any  law  to  be  passed,  you 
hastened  to  C;vsar.  For  you  thought  the  camp  the  only  ref- 
uge on  earth  for  indigence,  and  debt,  and  profligacy, — for  all 
men,  in  short,  who  were  in  a  state  of  utter  ruin.     Then,  when 

1  Sisapo  was  a  town  in  Spain,  celebrated  for  some  mines  of  vermilion, 
which  were  farmed  by  a  company. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  319 

y<iu  nad  recruited  your  resources  again  by  his  largesses  and 
your  own  robberies  (if,  indeed,  a  person  can  be  said  to  re- 
eruir„  who  only  acquires  something  which  he  may  immediate- 
ly squander),  you  hastened,  being  again  a  beggar,  to  the  trib- 
uneship,  in  obder  that  in  that  magistracy  you  might,  if  possi- 
ble, behave  like  vour  friend. 

XXI.  Listen  now,  I  beseech  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  not  to 
those  things  which  he  did  indecently  and  profligately  to  his 
own  injury  and  to  his  own  disgrace  as  a  private  individual ; 
but  to  the  actions  which  he  did  impiously  and  wickedly  against 
us  and  our  fortunes, — that  is  to  say,  against  the  whole  repub- 
lic. For  it  is  from  his  wickedness  that  you  will  find  that  the 
beginning  of  all  these  evils  has  arisen. 

For  when,  in  the  consulship  of  Lucius  Lentulus  and  Mar- 
cus Marcellus,  you,  on  the  first  of  January,  were  anxious  to 
prop  up  the  republic,  which  was  tottering  and  almost  falling, 
and  were  willing  10  consult  the  interests  of  Caius  Caesar  him- 
self,  if  he  would  have  acted  like  a  man  in  his  senses,  then  this 
fellow  opposed  to  your  counsels  his  tribuneship,  which  he  had 
sold  and  handed  over  to  the  purchaser,  and  exposed  his  own 
neck  to  that  ax  under  which  many  have  suffered  for  smaller 
crimes.  It  was  against  vou.  O  Marcus  Antonius.  that  the  sen- 
ate,  while  still  in  the  possession  of  its  rights,  before  so  many  of 
its  luminaries  were  extinguished,  passed  that  decree  which,  in 
accordance  with  the  usage  of  our  ancestors,  is  at  times  passed 
against  an  enemy  who  is  a  citizen.  And  have  you  dared,  be- 
fore these  conscript  fathers,  to  say  any  thing  against  me,  when 
I  have  been  pronounced  by  this  order  to  be  the  savior  of  my 
country,  and  when  you  have  been  declared  by  it  to  be  an  en- 
emy of  the  republic?  The  mention  of  that  wickedness  of 
yours  has  been  interrupted,  but  the  recollection  of  it  has  not 
been  effaced.  As  long  as  the  race  of  men,  as  long  as  the 
name  of  the  Roman  people  shall  exist  (and  that,  unless  it  is 
prevented  from  being  so  by  your  means,  will  be  everlasting), 
so  long  will  that  most  mischievous  interposition  of  your  veto 
be  spoken  of.  What  was  there  that  was  being  done  by  the 
senate  either  ambitiously  or  rashly,  when  you,  one  single  vouno- 
man,  forbade  the  whole  order  to  pass  decrees  concerning  the 
safety  of  the  republic  \  and  when  you  did  so,  not  once  only, 
but  repeatedly  ?  nor  would  you  allow  any  one  to  plead  with 
you  in  behalf  of  the  authority  of  the  senate ;  and  yet,  what 
^id  any  one  entreat  of  you,  except  that  you  would  not  desire 


320  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  republic  to  be  entirely  overthrown  and  destroyed;  when 
neither  the  chief  men  of  the  state  by  their  entreaties,  nor  the 
elders  by  their  warnings,  nor  the  senate  in  a  full  house  by 
pleading  with  you,  could  move  you  from  the  determination 
which  you  had  already  sold  and  as  it  were  delivered  to  the 
purchaser?  Then  it  was,  after  having  tried  many  other  ex- 
pedients previously,  that  a  blow  was  of  necessity  struck  at 
you  which  had  been  struck  at  only  few  men  before  you,  and 
which  none  of  them  had  ever  survived.  Then  it  was  that 
this  order  armed  the  consuls,  and  the  rest  of  the  magistrates 
who  were  invested  with  either  military  or  civil  command, 
against  you,  and  you  never  would  have  escaped  them,  if  you 
had  not  taken  refuge  in  the  camp  of  Caesar. 

XXII.  It  was  you,  you,  I  say,  O  Marcus  Antonius,  who 
gave  Caius  Caesar,  desirous  as  he  already  was  to  throw  every 
thing  into  confusion,  the  principal  pretext  for  waging  war 
against  his  country.  For  what  other  pretense  did  he  allege  ? 
what  cause  did  he  give  for  his  own  most  frantic  resolution 
and  action,  except  that  the  power  of  interposition  by  the  veto 
had  been  disregarded,  the  privileges  of  the  tribunes  taken 
away,  and  Antonius's  rights  abridged  by  the  senate?  I  say 
nothing  of  how  false,  how  trivial  these  pretenses  were ;  espe- 
cially when  there  could  not  possibly  be  any  reasonable  cause 
whatever  to  justify  any  one  in  taking  up  arms  against  his 
country.  But  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  Caesar.  You  must 
unquestionably  allow,  that  the  cause  of  that  ruinous  war  ex- 
isted in  your  person. 

O  miserable  man  if  you  are  aware,  more  miserable  still  if 
you  are  not  aware,  that  this  is  recorded  in  writings,  is  handed 
down  to  men's  recollection,  that  our  very  latest  posterity  in 
the  most  distant  ages  will  never  forget  this  fact,  that  the  con- 
suls were  expelled  from  Italy,  and  with  them  CnasusPompeius, 
who  was  the  glory  and  light  of  the  empire  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple ;  that  all  the  men  of  consular  rank,  whose  health  would 
allow  them  to  share  in  that  disaster  and  that  flight,  and  the 
praetors,  and  men  of  praetorian  rank,  and  the  tribunes  of  the 
people,  and  a  great  part  of  the  senate,  and  all  the  flower 
of  the  youth  of  the  city,  and,  in  a  word,  the  republic  itself 
was  driven  out  and  expelled  from  its  abode.  As,  then,  there 
is  in  seeds  the  cause  which  produces  trees  and  plants,  so  of 
this  most  lamentable  war  you  were  the  seed.  Do  you,  O 
conscript  fathers,  grieve  that  these  armies  o^  the  Roman  peo» 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  321 

pie  have  been  slain?  It  is  Antonius  who  slew  them.  Do 
you  regret  your  most  illustrious  citizens?  It  is  Antonius, 
again,  who  has  deprived  you  of  them.  The  authority  of  this 
order  is  overthrown  ;  it  is  Antonius  who  has  overthrown  it. 
Every  thing,  in  short,  which  we  have  seen  since  that  time 
(and  what  misfortune  is  there  that  we  have  not  seen?)  we 
shall,  if  we  argue  rightly,  attribute  wholly  to  Antonius.  As 
Helen  was  to  the  Trojans,  so  has  that  man  been  to  this  repub- 
lic,— the  cause  of  war,  the  cause  of  mischief,  the  cause  of  ruin. 
The  rest  of  his  tribuneship  was  like  the  beginning.  He  did 
every  thing  which  the  senate  had  labored  to  prevent,  as  being 
impossible  to  be  done  consistently  with  the  safety  of  the  re- 
public. And  see,  now,  how  gratuitously  wicked  he  was  even 
in  accomplishing  his  wickedness. 

XXIII.  He  restored  many  men  who  had  fallen  under  mis- 
fortune. Among  them  no  mention  was  made  of  his  uncle. 
If  he  was  severe,  why  was  he  not  so  to  every  one  ?  If  he  was 
merciful,  why  was  he  not  merciful  to  his  own  relations?  But 
I  sav  nothing  of  the  rest.  He  restored  Licinius  Lenticula, 
a  man  who  had  been  condemned  for  gambling,  and  who  was  a 
fellow-gamester  of  his  own.  As  if  he  could  not  play  with  a 
condemned  man ;  but  in  reality,  in  order  to  pay  by  a  strain- 
ing of  the  law  in  his  favor,  what  he  had  lost  by  the  dice. 
What  reason  did  you  allege  to  the  Eoman  people  why  it  was 
desirable  that  he  should  be  restored  ?  1  suppose  you  said  that 
he  was  absent  when  the  prosecution  was  instituted  against 
him;  that  the  cause  was  decided  without  his  having  been 
heard  in  his  defense  ;  that  there  was  not  by  a  law  any  judicial 
proceeding  established  with  reference  to  gambling  ;  that  he 
had  been  put  down  by  violence  or  by  arms ;  or  lastly,  as  was 
said  in  the  case  of  your  uncle,  that  the  tribunal  had  been 
bribed  with  money.  Nothing  of  this  sort  was  said.  Then 
he  was  a  good  man,  and  one  worthy  of  the  republic.  That, 
indeed,  would  have  been  nothing  to  the  purpose,  but  still, 
since  being  condemned  does  not  go  for  much,  I  would  forgive 
you  if  that  were  the  truth.  Does  not  he  restore  to  the  full 
possession  of  his  former  privileges  the  most  worthless  man 
possible, — one  who  would  not  hesitate  to  play  at  dice  even  in 
the  forum,  and  who  had  been  convicted  under  the  law  which 
exists  respecting  gambling, — does  not  he  declare  in  the  most 
open  manner  his  own  propensities  *? 

Then  in  this  same  tribuneship,  when  Cassar  while  on  his 

02 


322  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

way  into  Spain  had  given  him  Italy  to  trample  on,  what 
journeys  did  lie  make  in  every  direction !  how  did  he  visit 
the  municipal  towns!  I  know  that  I  am  only  speaking  of 
matters  which  have  been  discussed  in  every  one's  conversa- 
tion, and  that  the  things  which  I  am  saying  and  am  going  to 
say  are  better  known  to  every  one  who  was  in  Italy  at  that 
time,  than  to  me,  who  was  not.  Still  I  mention  the  particu- 
lars of  his  conduct,  although  my  speech  can  not  possibly  come 
up  to  your  own  personal  knowledge.  When  was  such  wick- 
edness ever  heard  of  as  existing  upon  earth  1  or  shameless- 
ness  ?  or  such  open  infamy  ? 

XXIV.  The  tribune  of  the  people  was  borne  along  in  a 
chariot,  lictors  crowned  with  laurel  preceded  him ;  among 
whom,  on  an  open  litter,  was  carried  an  actress ;  whom  hon- 
orable men,  citizens  of  the  different  municipalities,  coming 
out  from  their  towns  under  compulsion  to  meet  him,  saluted 
not  by  the  name  by  which  she  was  well  known  on  the  stage, 
but  by  that  of  Volumnia.1  A  car  followed  full  of  pimps; 
then  a  lot  of  debauched  companions ;  and  then  his  mother, 
utterly  neglected,  followed  the  mistress  of  her  profligate  son, 
as  if  she  had  been  her  dau<jhter-in-law.  O  the  disastrous  fe- 
cundity  of  that  miserable  woman  !  With  the  marks  of  such 
wickedness  as  this  did  that  fellow  stamp  every  municipality, 
and  prefecture,  and  colony,  and,  in  short,  the  whole  of  Italy. 

To  find  fault  with  the  rest  of  his  actions,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, is  difficult,  and  somewhat  unsafe.  He  was  occupied  in 
war ;  he  glutted  himself  with  the  slaughter  of  citizens  who 
bore  no  resemblance  to  himself.  He  was  fortunate — if  at 
least  there  can  be  any  good  fortune  in  wickedness.  But  since 
we  wish  to  show  a  regard  for  the  veterans,  although  the  cause 
of  the  soldiers  is  very  different  from  yours  ;  they  followed 
their  chief;  you  went  to  seek  for  a  leader;  still  (that  I  may 
not  give  you  any  pretense  for  stirring  up  odium  against  me 
among  them),  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  nature  of  the  war. 

When  victorious,  you  returned  with  the  legions  from  Thes- 
saly  to  Brundusium.  There  you  did  not  put  me  to  death. 
It  was  a  great  kindness  !  For  I  confess  that  you  could  have 
done  it.     Although  there  was  no  one  of  those  men  who  were 

1  She  was  a  courtesan  who  had  been  enfranchised  by  her  master  Vo- 
lumnius.  The  name  of  Volumnia  was  doar  to  the  Romans  as  that  of 
the  wife  of  Coriolauus,  to  whose  entreaties  he  had  yie'ded  when  he  drev 
oil'  his  army  from  the  neighborhood  of  Rome. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC  323 

with  you  at  that  time,  who  did  not  think  that  I  ought  to  be 
spared.  For  so  great  is  men's  affection  for  their  country,  that 
I  was  sacred  even  in  the  eyes  of  your  legions,  because  they 
recollected  that  the  country  had  been  saved  by  me.  How- 
ever, grant  that  you  did  give  me  what  you  did  not  take  away 
from  me ;  and  that  I  have  my  life  as  a  present  from  you, 
since  it  was  not  taken  from  me  by  you ;  was  it  possible  for 
me,  after  all  your  insults,  to  regard  that  kindness  of  yours  as 
I  regarded  it  at  first,  especially  after  you  saw  that  you  must 
hear  this  reply  from  me? 

XXY.  You  came  to  Brundusium,  to  the  bosom  and  em- 
braces of  your  actress.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Am  I  speak- 
ing falsely?  How  miserable  is  it  not  to  be  able  to  deny  a 
fact  which  it  is  disgraceful  to  confess!  If  you  had  no  shame 
before  the  municipal  towns,  had  you  none  even  before  your 
veteran  army?  For  what  soldier  was  there  who  did  not  see 
her  at  Brundusium  ?  who  was  there  who  did  not  know  that 
she  had  come  so  many  days' journey  to  congratulate  you?  who 
was  there  who  did  not  grieve  that  he  was  so  late  in  finding 
out  how  worthless  a  man  he  had  been  following  ? 

Again  vou  made  a  tour  through  Italy,  with  that  same  act- 
ress  for  your  companion.  Cruel  and  miserable  was  the  way 
in  which  you  led  your  soldiers  into  the  towns ;  shameful  was 
the  pillage  in  every  city,  of  gold  and  silver,  and  above  all,  of 
wine.  And  besides  all  this,  while  Caesar  knew  nothing  about 
it,  as  he  was  at  Alexandria,  Antonius,  by  the  kindness  of  Cae- 
sar's friends,  was  appointed  his  master  of  the  horse.  Then 
he  thought  that  he  could  live  with  Hippia1  by  virtue  of  his 
office,  and  that  he  might  give  horses  which  were  the  proper- 
ty of  the  state  to  Sergius  the  buffoon.  At  that  time  he  had 
{elected  for  himself  to  live  in,  not  the  house  which  he  now 
dishonors,  but  that  of  Marcus  Piso.  Why  need  I  mention 
his  decrees,  his  robberies,  the  possessions  of  inheritances  which 
were  given  him,  and  those  too  which  were  seized  by  him? 
Want  compelled  him  ;  he  did  not  know  where  to  turn.  That 
great  inheritance  from  Lucius  Rubrius,  and  that  other  from 
Lucius  Turselius,  had  not  yet  come  to  him.  He  had  not  yet 
succeeded  as  an  unexpected  heir  to  the  place  of  Cngeus  Pora- 
peius,  and  of  many  others  who  were  absent.  He  was  forced 
to  live  like  a  robber,  having  nothing  beyond  what  he  could 
plunder  from  others. 

1  This  is  a  play  on  the  name  Hippia,  as  derived  from  lizizoq,  a  horse. 


324  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

However,  we  will  say  nothing  of  these  things,  which  are 
acts  of  a  more  hardy  sort  of  villainy.  Let  us  speak  rather  of 
his  meaner  descriptions  of  worthlessness.  You,  with  those 
jaws  of  yours,  and  those  sides  of  yours,  and  that  strength  of 
body  suited  to  a  gladiator,  drank  such  quantities  of  wine  at 
the  marriage  of  Ilippia,  that  you  were  forced  to  vomit  the 
next  day  in  the  sight  of  the  Koman  people.  O  action  dis- 
graceful not  merely  to  see,  but  even  to  hear  of!  If  this  had 
happened  to  you  at  supper  amid  those  vast  drinking-cups  of 
yours,  who  would  not  have  thought  it  scandalous?  But  in  an 
assembly  of  the  Eoman  people,  a  man  holding  a  public  office, 
a  master  of  the  horse,  to  whom  it  would  have  been  disgrace- 
ful even  to  belch,  vomiting  filled  his  own  bosom  and  the  whole 
tribunal  with  fragments  of  what  he  had  been  eating  reeking 
with  wine.  But  he  himself  confesses  this  among  his  other  dis- 
graceful acts.     Let  us  proceed  to  his  more  splendid  offenses. 

-  XXVI.  Ca?sar  came  back  from  Alexandria,  fortunate,  as 
he  seemed  at  least  to  himself;  but  in  my  opinion  no  one  can 
be  fortunate  who  is  unfortunate  for  the  republic.  The  spear 
was  set  up  in  front  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  St  at  or,  and  the 
property  of  Cr.ieus  Pompeius  Magnus — (miserable  that  I  am, 
for  even  now  that  my  tears  have  ceased  to  flow,  my  grief  re- 
mains deeply  implanted  in  my  heart), — -the  property,  I  say, 
of  Cnseus  Pompeius  the  Great  was  submitted  to  the  pitiless 
voice  of  the  auctioneer.  On  that  one  occasion  the  state  for- 
got its  slavery,  and  groaned  aloud ;  and  though  men's  minds 
were  enslaved,  as  every  thing  was  kept  under  by  fear,  still  the 
groans  of  the  Eoman  people  were  free.  While  all  men  were 
waiting  to  see  who  would  be  so  impious,  who  would  be  so 
mad,  who  would  be  so  declared  an  enemy  to  gods  and  to  men 
as  to  dare  to  mix  himself  up  with  that  wicked  auction,  no  one 
was  found  except  Antonius,  even  though  there  were  plenty  of 
men  collected  round  that  spear1  who  would  have  dared  any 
thing  else.  One  man  alone  was  found  to  dare  to  do  that  which 
the  audacity  of  every  one  else  had  shrunk  from  and  shuddered 
at.  Were  you,  then,  seized  with  such  stupidity, — or,  I  should 
rather  say,  with  such  insanity, — as  not  to  see  that  if  you,  be- 
ing of  the  rank  in  which  you  were  born,  acted  as  a  broker  at 
all,  and  above  all  as  a  broker  in  the  case  of  Pompeius' s  prop- 

1  The  custom  of  erecting  a  spear  wherever  an  auction  was  h*ld  is  well 
known  ;  it  is  said  to  have  arisen  from  the  ancient  practice  of  selling  un- 
der a  spear  the  hooty  acquired  in  war. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  325 

erty,  you  would  be  execrated  and  hated  by  the  Roman  people, 
and  that  all  gods  and  all  men  must  at  once  become  and  for- 
ever continue  hostile  to  you'?  But  with  what  violence  did 
that  glutton  immediately  proceed  to  take  possession  of  the 
property  of  that  man,  to  whose  valor  it  had  been  owing  that 
the  Roman  people  had  been  more  terrible  to  foreign  nations, 
while  his  justice  had  made  it  dearer  to  them. 

XXVII.  When,  therefore,  this  fellow  had  begun  to  wallow 
in  the  treasures  of  that  great  man,  he  began  to  exult  like  a 
buffoon  in  a  play,  who  has  lately  been  a  beggar,  and  has  be- 
come suddenly  rich.     But,  as  some  poet  or  other  says, — 

"  Ill-gotten  gains  come  quickly  to  an  end." 

It  is  an  incredible  thing,  and  almost  a  miracle,  how  he  in  a 
few,  not  months,  but  days,  squandered  all  that  vast  wealth. 
There  was  an  immense  quantity  of  wine,  an  excessive  abund- 
ance of  very  valuable  plate,  much  precious  apparel,  great  quan- 
tities of  splendid  furniture,  and  other  magnificent  things  in 
many  places,  such  as  one  was  likely  to  see  belonging  to  a  man 
who  was  not  indeed  luxurious,  but  who  was  very  wealthy. 
Of  all  this  in  a  few  days  there  was  nothing  left.  What  Cha- 
rybdis  was  ever  so  voracious?  Charybdis,  do  I  say?  Cha- 
rvbdis,  if  she  existed  at  all,  was  only  one  animal.  The  ocean, 
I  swear  most  solemnly,  appears  scarcely  capable  of  having 
swallowed  up  such  numbers  of  things  so  widely  scattered,  and 
distributed  in  such  different  places,  with  such  rapidity.  No- 
thing was  shut  up,  nothing  sealed  up,  no  list  was  made  of 
anv  thins;.  Whole  storehouses  were  abandoned  to  the  most 
worthless  of  men.  Actors  seized  on  this,  actresses  on  that ; 
the  house  was  crowded  with  gamblers,  and  full  of  drunken 
men ;  people  were  drinking  all  day,  and  that  too  in  many 
places ;  there  were  added  to  all  this  expense  (for  this  fellow 
was  not  invariably  fortunate)  heavy  gambling  losses.  You 
might  see  in  the  cellars  of  the  slaves,  couches  covered  with 
the  most  richly  embroidered  counterpanes  of  Cnreus  Pompei- 
us.  Wonder  not,  then,  that  all  these  things  were  so  soon  con- 
sumed. Such  profligacy  as  that  could  have  devoured  not  only 
the  patrimony  of  one  individual,  however  ample  it  might  have 
been  (as  indeed  his  was),  but  whole  cities  and  kingdoms. 

And  then  his  houses  and  gardens !  Oh  the  cruel  audacity ! 
Did  vou  dare  to  enter  into  that  house?  Did  you  dare  to  cross 
that  most  sacred  threshold  ?  and  to  show  your  most  profligate 


326  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

countenance  to  the  household  gods  who  protect  that  abode  % 
A  house  which  for  a  long  time  no  one  could  behold,  no  one 
could  pass  by  without  tears !  Are  you  not  ashamed  to  dwell 
so  long  in  that  house  ?  one  in  which,  stupid  and  ignorant  as 
you  are,  still  you  can  see  nothing  which  is  not  painful  to  you. 
I  yS  XXVIII.  When  you  behold  those  beaks  of  ships  in  the  ves- 
tibule, and  those  warlike  trophies,  do  you  fancy  that  you  are 
entering  into  a  house  which  belongs  to  you !  It  is  impossi- 
ble. Although  you  are  devoid  of  all  sense  and  all  feeling, — as 
in  truth  you  are, — still  you  are  acquainted  with  yourself,  and 
with  your  trophies,  and  with  your  friends.  Nor  do  I  believe 
that  you,  either  waking  or  sleeping,  can  ever  act  with  quiet 
sense.  It  is  impossible  but  that,  were  you  ever  so  drunk  and 
frantic, — as  in  truth  you  are, — when  the  recollection  of  the 
appearance  of  that  illustrious  man  comes  across  you,  you 
should  be  roused  from  sleep  by  your  fears,  and  often  stirred 
up  to  madness  if  awake.  I  pity  even  the  walls  and  the  roof. 
For  what  had  that  house  ever  beheld  except  what  was  modest, 
except  what  proceeded  from  the  purest  principles  and  from  the 
most  virtuous  practice'?  For  that  man  was,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, as  you  yourselves  know,  not  only  illustrious  abroad,  but 
also  admirable  at  home ;  and  not  more  praiseworthy  for  his 
exploits  in  foreign  countries,  than  for  his  domestic  arrange- 
ments. Now  in  his  house  every  bedchamber  is  a  brothel, 
and  every  dining-room  a  cookshop.  Although  he  denies  this  : 
— Do  not,  do  not  make  inquiries.  He  is  become  economical. 
He  desired  that  mistress  of  his  to  take  possession  of  whatever 
belonged  to  her,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables. 
He  has  taken  his  keys  from  her,  and  turned  her  out  of  doors. 
What  a  well-tried  citizen !  of  what  proved  virtue  is  he !  the 
most  honorable  passage  in  whose  life  is  the  one  when  he  di- 
vorced himself  from  this  actress. 

But  how  constantly  does  he  harp  on  the  expression  "  the 
consul  Antonius !"  This  amounts  to  say."  that  most  debauch- 
ed consul,"  "  that  most  worthless  of  men,  the  consul."  For 
what  else  is  Antonius1?  For  if  any  dignity  were  implied  in 
the  name,  then,  I  imagine,  your  grandfather  would  sometimes 
have  called  himself  "the  consul  Antonius."  But  he  never 
did.  My  colleague  too,  your  own  uncle,  would  have  called 
himself  so.  Unless  you  are  the  only  Antonius.  But  I  pass 
over  those  offenses  which  have  no  peculiar  connection  with 
the  part  you  took  in  harassing  the  republic  ;   I  return  to  that 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  327 

in  which  you  bore  so  principal  a  share, — that  is,  to  the  civil 
war;  and  it  is  mainly  owing  to  you  that  that  was  originated, 
and  brought  to  a  head,  and  carried  on. 

XXIX.  Though  you  yourself  took  no  personal  share  in  it, 
partly  through  timidity,  partly  through  profligacy,  you  had 
tasted,  or  rather  had  sucked  in,  the  blood  of  fellow-citizens : 
you  had  been  in  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  as  a  leader ;  you  had 
slain  Lucius  Domitius,  a  most  illustrious  and  high-born  man ; 
you  had  pursued  and  put  to  death  in  the  most  barbarous  man- 
ner many  men  who  had  escaped  from  the  battle,  and  whom 
Caesar  would  perhaps  have  saved,  as  he  did  some  others. 

And  after  having  performed  these  exploits,  what  was  the 
reason  why  you  did  not  follow  Caesar  into  Africa ;  especially 
when  so  large  a  portion  of  the  war  was  still  remaining  1  And 
accordingly,  what  place  did  you  obtain  about  Caesar's  person 
after  his  return  from  Africa?  What  was  your  rank?  He 
whose  quaestor  you  had  been  when  general,  whose  master  of 
the  horse  when  he  was  dictator,  to  whom  you  had  been  the 
chief  cause  of  war,  the  chief  instigator  of  cruelty,  the  sharer 
of  his  plunder,  his  son,  as  you  yourself  said,  by  inheritance, 
proceeded  against  vou  for  the  monev  which  you  owed  for  the 
house  and  gardens,  and  for  the  other  property  which  you  had 
bought  at  that  sale.  At  first  you  answered  fiercely  enough  ; 
and  that  I  may  not  appear  prejudiced  against  you  in  every 
particular,  you  used  a  tolerably  just  and  reasonable  argument. 
"  What,  does  Cains  Caesar  demand  money  of  me  1  why  should 
he  do  so,  any  more  than  I  should  claim  it  of  him  1  Was  he 
victorious  without  my  assistance  ?  Xo ;  and  he  never  could 
have  been.  It  was  I  who  supplied  him  with  a  pretext  for 
civil  war  ;  it  was  I  who  proposed  mischievous  laws ;  it  was  I 
who  took  up  arms  against  the  consuls  and  generals  of  the  Bo- 
man  people,  against  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome,  against 
the  gods  of  the  country,  against  its  altars  and  hearths,  against 
the  country  itself.  Has  he  conquered  for  himself  alone? 
Why  should  not  those  men  whose  common  work  the  achieve- 
ment  is,  have  the  booty  also  in  common?"  You  were  only 
claiming  your  right,  but  what  had  that  to  do  with  it !  He 
was  the  more  powerful  of  the  two. 

Therefore,  stopping  all  your  expostulations,  he  sent  his  sol- 
diers to  vou,  and  to  vour  sureties ;  when  all  on  a  sudden  out 
came  that  splendid  catalogue  of  yours.  How  men  did  laugh ! 
That  there  should  be  so  vast  a  catalogue,  that  there  should 


328  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

be  such  a  numerous  and  various  list  of  possessions,  of  all  of 
which,  with  the  exception  of  a  portion  of  Misenum,  there  was 
nothing  which  the  man  who  was  putting  them  up  to  sale 
could  call  his  own.  And  what  a  miserable  sight  was  the 
auction.  A  little  apparel  of  Pompeius's,  and  that  stained; 
a  few  silver  vessels  belonging  to  the  same  man,  all  battered ; 
some  slaves  in  wretched  condition  ;  so  that  we  grieved  that 
there  was  any  thing  remaining  to  be  seen  of  these  miserable 
relics.  This  auction,  however,  the  heirs  of  Lucius  Kubrius 
prevented  from  proceeding,  being  armed  with  a  decree  of  Cae- 
sar to  that  effect.  The  spendthrift  was  embarrassed.  He 
did  not  know  which  way  to  turn.  It  was  at  this  very  time 
that  an  assassin  sent  by  him  was  said  to  have  been  detected 
with  a  dagger  in  the  house  of  Caesar.  And  of  this  Caesar 
himself  complained  in  the  senate,  inveighing  openly  against 
you.  Caesar  departs  to  Spain,  having  granted  you  a  few  days 
delay  for  making  the  payment,  on  account  of  your  poverty. 
Even  then  you  do  not  follow  him.  Had  so  good  a  gladiator 
as  you  retired  from  business  so  early?  Can  any  one  then 
fear  a  man  who  was  as  timid  as  this  man  in  upholding  his 
party,  that  is,  in  upholding  his  own  fortunes? 

XXX.  After  some  time  he  at  last  went  into  Spain ;  but,  as 
he  says,  he  could  not  arrive  there  in  safety.  How  then  did 
Dolabella  manage  to  arrive  there?  Either,  O  Antonius,  that 
cause  ought  never  to  have  been  undertaken,  or  when  you  had 
undertaken  it,  it  should  have  been  maintained  to  the  end. 
Thrice  did  Caesar  fight  against  his  fellow-citizens ;  in  Thessa- 
ly,  in  Africa,  and  in  Spain.  Dolabella  was  present  at  all 
these  battles.  In  the  battle  in  Spain  he  even  received  a 
wound.  If  you  ask  my  opinion,  I  wish  he  had  not  been 
there.  But  still,  if  his  design  at  first  was  blamable,  his  con- 
sistency and  firmness  were  praiseworthy.  But  what  shall 
we  say  of  you  %  In  the  first  place,  the  children  of  Cnseus 
Pompeius  sought  to  be  restored  to  their  country.  Well,  this 
concerned  the  common  interests  of  the  whole  party.  Besides 
that,  they  sought  to  recover  their  household  gods,  the  gods  of 
their  country,  their  altars,  their  hearths,  the  tutelar  gods  of 
their  family  ;  all  of  which  you  had  seized  upon.  And  when 
they  sought  to  recover  those  tilings  by  force  of  arms  which 
belonged  to  them  by  the  laws,  who  was  it  most  natural  (al- 
though in  unjust  and  unnatural  proceedings  what  can  there 
be  that  is  natural?) — still,  who  was  it  most  natural  to  expect 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  329 

would  fight  against  the  children  of  Cnasus  Pompeius  ?  Who  ? 
Why,  you  who  had  bought  their  property.  Were  you  at 
Narbo  to  be  sick  over  the  tables  of  your  entertainers,  while 
Dolabella  was  fighting  your  battles  in  Spain  ! 

And  what  return  was  that  of  yours  from  Narbo  1  lie 
even  asked  why  I  had  returned  so  suddenly  from  my  expedi- 
tion. I  have  just  briefly  explained  to  you,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, the  reason  of  my  return.  I  was  desirous,  if  I  could,  to 
be  of  service  to  the  republic  even  before  the  first  of  January. 
For,  as  to  your  question,  how  I  had  returned;  in  the  first 
place,  I  returned  by  daylight,  not  in  the  dark ;  in  the  second 
place,  I  returned  in  shoes,  and  in  my  Eoman  gown,  not  in 
any  Gallic  slippers,  or  barbarian  mantle.  And  even  now 
you  keep  looking  at  me ;  and,  as  it  seems,  with  great  anger. 
Surely  you  would  be  reconciled  to  me  if  you  knew  how 
ashamed  I  am  of  your  worthlessness,  which  you  yourself  are 
not  ashamed  of.  Of  all  the  profligate  conduct  of  all  the  world, 
I  never  saw,  I  never  heard  of  any  more  shameful  than  yours. 
You,  who  fancied  yourself  a  master  of  the  horse,  when  you 
were  standing  for,  or  I  should  rather  say  begging  for  the  con- 
sulship for  the  ensuing  year,  ran  in  Gallic  slippers  and  a  bar- 
barian mantle  about  the  municipal  towns  and  colonies  of 
Gaul,  from  which  we  used  to  demand  the  consulship  when 
the  consulship  was  stood  for  and  not  begged  for. 

XXXI.  But  mark  now  the  trifling  character  of  the  fellow. 
When  about  the  tenth  hour  of  the  day  he  had  arrived  at  Red 
Rocks,  he  skulked  into  a  little  petty  wine-shop,  and,  hiding 
there,  kept  on  drinking  till  evening.  And  from  thence  get- 
ting into  a  gig  and  being  driven  rapidly  to  the  city,  he  came 
to  his  own  house  with  his  head  vailed.  "  Who  are  you  ?" 
says  the  porter.  "  An  express  from  Marcus."  He  is  at  once 
taken  to  the  woman  for  whose  sake  he  had  come  ;  and  he 
delivered  the  letter  to  her.  And  when  she  had  read  it  with 
tears  (for  it  was  written  in  a  very  amorous  style,  but  the 
main  subject  of  the  letter  was  that  he  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  that  actress  for  the  future ;  that  he  had  discarded  all 
his  love  for  her,  and  transferred  it  to  his  correspondent),  when 
she,  I  say,  wept  plentifully,  this  soft-hearted  man  could  bear 
it  no  longer ;  he  uncovered  his  head  and  threw  himself  on  her 
neck.  Oh  the  worthless  man  (for  what  else  can  I  call  him  % 
there  is  no  more  suitable  expression  for  me  to  use) !  was  it  for 
this  that  you  disturbed   the    city  by  nocturnal   alarms,  -ind 


330  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Italy  with  fears  of  many  days'  duration,  in  order  that  you 
might  show  yourself  unexpectedly,  and  that  a  woman  might 
see  you  before  she  hoped  to  do  so"?  And  he  had  at  home  a 
pretense  of  love  ;  but  out  of  doors  a  cause  more  discreditable 
still,  namely,  lest  Lucius  Plancus  should  sell  up  his  sureties. 
But  after  you  had  been  produced  in  the  assembly  by  one  of 
the  tribunes  of  the  people,  and  had  replied  that  you  bad  come 
on  your  own  private  business,  you  made  even  the  people  full 
of  jokes  against  you.  But,  however,  we  have  said  too  much 
about  trifles.     Let  us  come  to  more  important  subjects. 

XXXII.  You  went  a  great  distance  to  meet  Caesar  on  his 
return  from  Spain.  You  went  rapidly,  you  returned  rapid- 
ly, in  order  that  we  might  see  that,  if  you  were  not  brave, 
you  were  at  least  active.  You  again  became  intimate  with 
him  ;  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  how.  Gaesar  had  this  pe- 
culiar characteristic ;  whoever  he  knew  to  be  utterly  ruined 
by  debt,  and  needy,  even  if  he  knew  him  also  to  be  an  auda- 
cious and  worthless  man,  he  willingly  admitted  him  to  his  in- 
timacy. You  then,  being  admirably  recommended  to  him  by 
these  circumstances,  were  ordered  to  be  appointed  consul,  and 
that  too  as  his  own  colleague.  I  do  not  make  any  complaint 
against  Dolabella,  who  was  at  that  time  acting  under  com- 
pulsion, and  was  cajoled  and  deceived.  But  who  is  there  who 
does  not  know  with  what  great  perfidy  both  of  you  treated 
Dolabella  in  that  business  1  Caesar  induced  him  to  stand  for 
the  consulship.  After  having  promised  it  to  him,  and  pledged 
himself  to  aid  him,  he  prevented  his  getting  it,  and  transferred 
it  to  himself.  And  you  endorsed  his  treachery  with  your  own 
eagerness. 

The  first  of  January  arrives.  We  are  convened  in  the 
senate.  Dolabella  inveighed  against  him  with  much  more 
fluency  and  premeditation  than  I  am  doing  now.  And  what 
things  were  they  which  he  said  in  his  anger,  O  ye  good  gods! 
First  of  all,  after  Caesar  had  declared  that  before  he  departed 
he  would  order  Dolabella  to  be  made  consul  (and  they  deny 
that  he  was  a  king  who  was  always  doing  and  saying  some- 
thing of  this  sort), — but  after  Caesar  had  said  this,  then  this 
virtuous  augur  said  that  he  was  invested  with  a  pontificate  of 
that  sort  that  he  was  able,  by  means  of  the  auspices,  either  to 
hinder  or  to  vitiate  the  comitia,  just  as  he  pleased;  and  he 
declared  that  he  would  do  so.  And  here,  in  the  first  place, 
remark   the  incredible  stupidity  of  the  man.     For  what  do 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC  331 

you  mean  ?  Could  you  not  just  as  well  have  done  what  you 
said  you  had  now  the  power  to  do  by  the  privileges  with 
which  that  pontificate  had  invested  you,  even  if  you  were  not 
an  augur,  if  you  were  consul  ?  Perhaps  you  could  even  do  it 
more  easily.  For  we  augurs  have  only  the  power  of  announ- 
cing that  the  auspices  are  being  observed,  but  the  consuls  and 
other  magistrates  have  the  right  also  of  observing  them  when- 
ever they  choose.  Be  it  so.  You  said  this  out  of  ignorance. 
For  one  must  not  demand  prudence  from  a  man  who  is  never 
sober.  But  still  remark  his  impudence.  Many  months  before, 
he  said  in  the  senate  that  he  would  either  prevent  the  comitia 
from  assembling  for  the  election  of  Dolabella  by  means  of  the 
auspices,  or  that  he  would  do  what  he  actually  did  do.  Can 
any  one  divine  beforehand  what  defect  there  will  be  in  the 
auspices,  except  the  man  who  has  already  determined  to  ob- 
serve the  heavens'?  which  in  the  first  place  it  is  forbidden  by 
law  to  do  at  the  time  of  the  comitia.  And  if  any  one  has 
been  observing  the  heavens,  he  is  bound  to  give  notice  of  it, 
not  after  the  comitia  are  assembled,  but  before  thev  are  held. 
But  this  man's  ignorance  is  joined  to  impudence,  nor  does  he 
know  what  an  augur  ought  to  know,  nor  do  what  a  modest 
man  ought  to  do.  And  just  recollect  the  whole  of  his  conduct 
during  his  consulship  from  that  day  up  to  the  ides  of  March. 
What  lictor  was  ever  so  humble,  so  abiect?  Pie  himself  had 
no  power  at  all ;  he  begged  every  thing  of  others  ;  and  thrust- 
ing his  head  into  the  hind  part  of  his  litter,  he  begged  favors 
of  his  colleagues,  to  sell  them  himself  afterward. 

XXXIII.   Behold,  the  day  of  the  comitia  for  the  election 
of  Dolabella  arrives.     The  prerogative  centurv  draws  its  lot. 

L  CD  J 

He  is  quiet.  The  vote  is  declared ;  he  is  still  silent.  The 
first  class  is  called.1  Its  vote  is  declared.  Then,  as  is  the 
usual  course,  the  votes  are  announced.  Then  the  second  class. 
And  all  this  is  done  faster  than  I  have  told  it.  When  the 
business  is  over,  that  excellent  augur  (you  would  say  he  must 
be  Caius  Ladius)  says, — "We  adjourn  it  to  another  dav.'v 
Oh  the  monstrous  impudence  of  such  a  proceeding !  What 
had  you  seen  %  what  had  you  perceived  1  what  had  you  heard  ? 
For  you  did  not  say  that  you  had  been  observing  the  heavens, 
and  indeed  you  do  not  say  so  this  day.  That  defect  then  has 
arisen,  which  you  on  the  first  of  January  had  already  fore- 

1  There  seems  some  corruption  here.     Orellius  apparently  thinks  the 
case  hopeless. 


332  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

seen  would  arise,  and  which  you  had  predicted  so  long  before. 
Therefore,  in  truth,  you  have  made  a  false  declaration  respect- 
ing the  auspices,  to  your  own  great  misfortune,  I  hope,  rather 
than  to  that  of  the  republic.  You  laid  the  Roman  people 
under  the  obligations  of  religion ;  you  as  augur  interrupted 
an  augur ;  you  as  consul  interrupted  a  consul  by  a  false  dec- 
laration concerning  the  auspices. 
yM,  I  will  say  no  more,  lest  I  should  seem  to  be  pulling  to 
pieces  the  acts  of  Dolabella  ;  which  must  inevitably  some- 
time or  other  be  brought  before  our  college.  But  take  notice 
of  the  arrogance  and  insolence  of  the  fellow.  As  long  as  you 
please,  Dolabella  is  a  consul  irregularly  elected ;  again,  while 
you  please,  he  is  a  consul  elected  with  all  proper  regard  to 
the  auspices.  If  it  means  nothing  when  an  augur  gives  this 
notice  in  those  words  in  which  you  gave  notice,  then  confess 
that  you,  when  you  said,  — "  We  adjourn  this  to  another 
day,"  were  not  sober.  But  if  those  words  have  any  meaning, 
then  I,  an  augur,  demand  of  my  colleague  to  know  what  that 


meaning  is. 


But  lest  by  any  chance,  while  enumerating  his  numerous 
exploits,  our  speech  should  pass  over  the  finest  action  of  Mar- 
cus Antonius,  let  us  come  to  the  Lupcrealia. 

XXXIV.  He  does  not  dissemble,  O  conscript  fathers ;  it  is 
plain  that  he  is  agitated ;  he  perspires ;  he  turns  pale.  Let 
him  do  what  he  pleases,  provided  he  is  not  sick,  and  does  not 
behave  as  he  did  in  the  Minucian  colonnade.  What  defense 
can  be  made  for  such  beastly  behavior'?  I  wish  to  hear,  that 
I  may  see  the  fruit  of  those  high  wages  of  that  rhetorician,  of 
that  land  given  in  Leontini.  Your  colleague  was  sitting  in 
the  rostra,  clothed  in  purple  robe,  on  a  golden  chair,  wearing 
a  crown.  You  mount  the  steps;  you  approach  his  chair  (if 
you  were  a  priest  of  Pan,  you  ought  to  have  recollected  that 
you  were  consul  too) ;  you  display  a  diadem.  There  is  a 
groan  over  the  whole  forum.  Where  did  the  diadem  come 
from  ?  For  you  had  not  picked  it  up  when  lying  on  the 
ground,  but  you  had  brought  it  from  home  with  you.  a  pre- 
meditated and  deliberately  planned  wickedness.  You  placed 
the  diadem  on  hie  head  amidst  the  groans  of  the  people;  lie  re- 
jected it  amidst  great  applause.  You  then  alone,  ()  wicked 
man,  were  found,  both  to  advise  the  assumption  of  kingly 
power,  and  to  wish  to  have  him  for  your  master  who  was 
your  colleague  ;   and  also  to  try  what  the  Roman  people  might 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  333 

be  able  to  bear  and  to  endure.  Moreover,  you  even  sought 
to  move  his  pity ;  you  threw  yourself  at  his  feet  as  a  suppli- 
ant ;  begging  for  what  1  to  be  a  slave "?  You  might  beg  it 
for  yourself,  when  you  had  lived  in  such  a  way  from  the  time 
that  you  were  a  boy  that  you  could  bear  every  thing,  and 
would  find  no  difficulty  in  being  a  slave ;  but  certainly  you 
had  no  commission  from  the  Uoman  people  to  try  for  such  a 
thing  for  them. 

Oh  how  splendid  was  that  eloquence  of  yours,  when  you 
harangued  the  people  stark  naked !  What  could  be  more 
foul  than  this  1  more  shameful  than  this?  more  deserving  of 
every  sort  of  punishment  1  Are  you  waiting  for  me  to  prick 
you  more  \  This  that  I  am  saying  must  tear  you  and  bring 
blood  enough,  if  you  have  any  feeling  at  all.  I  am  afraid  that 
I  may  be  detracting  from  the  glory  of  some  most  eminent  men. 
Still  my  indignation  shall  find  a  voice.  What  can  be  more 
scandalous  than  for  that  man  to  live  who  placed  a  diadem  on 
a  man's  head,  when  every  one  confesses  that  that  man  was 
deservedly  slain  who  rejected  it  %  And,  moreover,  he  caused 
it  to  be  recorded  in  the  annals,  under  the  head  of  Lupercalia, 
"  That  Marcus  Antonius,  the  consul,  by  command  of  the  peo- 
ple, had  offered  the  kingdom  to  Caius  Caesar,  perpetual  dicta- 
tor ;  and  that  Cagsar  had  refused  to  accept  it."  I  now  am 
not  much  surprised  at  your  seeking  to  disturb  the  general 
tranquillity ;  at  your  hating  not  only  the  city  but  the  light  of 
day ;  and  at  your  living  with  a  pack  of  abandoned  robbers, 
disregarding  the  day,  and  yet  regarding  nothing  beyond  the 
day.1  For  where  can  you  be  safe  in  peace  !  What  place 
can  there  be  for  you  where  laws  and  courts  of  justice  have 
sway,  both  of  which  you,  as  far  as  in  you  lay,  destroyed  by 
the  substitution  of  kingly  power  %  Was  it  for  this  that  Lu- 
cius Tarquinius  was  driven  out ;  that  Spurius  Cassius,  and 
Spurius  Maelius,  and  Marcus  Manlius  were  slain  ;  that  many 
years  afterward  a  king  might  be  established  at  Rome  by  Mar- 
cus Antonius,  though  the  bare  idea  was  impiety  !  However, 
let  us  return  to  the  auspices. 

XXXV.  With  respect  to  all  the  things  which  Caesar  was 

1  The  Latin  is,  "non  solum  de  die.  sed  etiam  in  diem,  vivere ;"  which  the 
commentators  explain,  "  De  die  is  to  feast  every  day  and  all  day.  Ban- 
quets de  die  are  those  which  begin  before  the  regular  hour."  (Like  Hor- 
ace's Partem  solido  demere  de  die.)  "  To  live  in  diem  U  t<t  h>e  so  as  to 
have  no  thought  for  the  future." — Graevius. 


334  C.CERO'S  ORATIONS. 

intending  to  do  in  the  senate  on  the  ides  of  March,  I  ask 
whether  you  have  done  any  thing  ?  I  heard,  indeed,  that  you 
had  come  down  prepared,  because  you  thought  that  I  intended 
to  speak  about  your  having  made  a  false  statement  respecting 
the  auspices,  though  it  was  still  necessary  for  us  to  respect 
them.  The  fortune  of  the  Roman  people  saved  us  from  that 
day.  Did  the  death  of  Caesar  also  put  an  end  to  your  opinion 
respecting  the  auspices?  But  I  have  come  to  mention  that 
occasion  which  must  be  allowed  to  precede  those  matters 
which  I  had  begun  to  discuss.  What  a  flight  was  that  of 
yours !  What  alarm  was  yours  on  that  memorable  day ! 
How,  from  the  consciousness  of  your  wickedness,  did  you  de- 
spair of  your  life  !  How,  while  flying,  were  you  enabled  se- 
cretly to  get  home  by  the  kindness  of  those  men  who  wished 
to  save  you,  thinking  you  would  show  more  sense  than  you 
do !  O  how  vain  have  at  all  times  been  my  too  true  predic- 
tions of  the  future !  I  told  those  deliverers  of  ours  in  the 
Capitol,  when  they  wished  me  to  go  to  you  to  exhort  you  to 
defend  the  republic,  that  as  long  as  you  were  in  fear  you  would 
promise  every  thing,  but  that  as  soon  as  you  had  emancipated 
yourself  from  alarm  you  would  be  yourself  again.  Therefore, 
while  the  rest  of  the  men  of  consular  rank  were  going  back- 
ward and  forward  to  you,  I  adhered  to  my  opinion,  nor  did 
I  see  you  at  all  that  day,  or  the  next ;  nor  did  I  think  it  pos- 
sible for  an  alliance  between  virtuous  citizens  and  a  most  un- 
principled enemy  to  be  made,  so  as  to  last,  by  any  treaty  or 
engagement  whatever.  The  third  day  I  came  into  the  tem- 
ple of  Tellus,  even  then  very  much  against  my  will,  as  armed 
men  were  blockading  all  the  approaches.  What  a  day  was 
that  for  you,  O  Marcus  Antonius!  Although  you  showed 
yourself  all  on  a  sudden  an  enemy  to  me  ;  still  I  pity  you  for 
having  envied  yourself. 

XXXVL  What  a  man,  O  ye  immortal  gods !  and  how 
great  a  man  might  you  have  been,  if  you  had  been  able  to 
preserve  the  inclination  you  displayed  that  day ; — we  should 
still  have  peace  which  was  made  then  by  the  pledge  of  a  hos- 
tage, a  boy  of  noble  birth,  the  grandson  of  Marcus  Bambalio. 
Although  it  was  fear  that  was  then  making  you  a  good  citizen, 
which  is  never  a  lasting  teacher  of  duty ;  your  own  audacity, 
which  never  departs  from  you  as  long  as  you  are  free  from 
fear,  has  made  you  a  worthless  one.  Although  even  at  that 
time,  when  they  thought  you  an  excellent  man,  though  I  in- 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  835 

deed  differed  from  that  opinion,  you  behaved  with  the  greatest 
wickedness  while  presiding  at  the  funeral  of  the  tyrant,  if  that 
ought  to  be  called  a  funeral.  All  that  fine  panegyric  was 
yours,  that  commiseration  was  yours,  that  exhortation  was 
yours.  It  was  you — you,  I  say — who  hurled  those  firebrands, 
both  those  with  which  your  friend  himself  was  nearly  burned, 
and  those  by  which  the  house  of  Lucius  Bellienus  was  set  en 
fire  and  destroyed.  It  was  you  who  let  loose  those  attacks  of 
abandoned  men,  slaves  for  the  most  part,  which  we  repelled  by 
violence  and  our  own  personal  exertions ;  it  was  you  who  set 
them  on  to  attack  our  houses.  And  yet  you,  as  if  you  had 
wiped  off  all  the  soot  and  smoke  in  the  ensuing  days,  carried 
those  excellent  resolutions  in  the  Capitol,  that  no  document 
conferring  any  exemption,  or  granting  any  favor,  should  be 
published  after  the  ides  of  March.  You  recollect  yourself, 
what  you  said  about  the  exiles;  you  know  what  you  said 
about  the  exemption ;  but  the  best  thing  of  all  was,  that  you 
forever  abolished  the  name  of  the  dictatorship  in  the  republic. 
Which  act  appeared  to  show  that  you  had  conceived  such  a 
hatred  of  kingly  power  that  you  took  away  all  fear  of  it  for 
the  future,  on  account  of  him  who  had  been  the  last  dictator. 

To  other  men  the  republic  now  seemed  established,  but  it 
did  not  appear  so  at  all  to  me,  as  I  was  afraid  of  every  sort 
of  shipwreck,  as  long  as  you  were  at  the  helm.  Have  I  been 
deceived  ?  or,  was  it  possible  for  that  man  long  to  continue 
unlike  himself?  While  you  were  all  looking  on,  documents 
were  fixed  up  over  the  whole  Capitol,  and  exemptions  were 
being  sold,  not  merely  to  individuals,  but  to  entire  states.  The 
freedom  of  the  city  was  also  being  given  now  not  to  single 
persons  only,  but  to  whole  provinces.  Therefore,  if  these  acts 
are  to  stand, — and  stand  they  can  not  if  the  republic  stands 
too, — then,  O  conscript  fathers,  you  have  lost  whole  provin- 
ces ;  and  not  the  revenues  only,  but  the  actual  empire  of  the 
Roman  people  has  been  diminished  by  a  market  this  man 
held  in  his  own  house. 

XXXVII.  "Where  are  the  seven  hundred  millions  of  ses- 
terces which  were  entered  in  the  account-books  which  are  in 
the  temple  of  Ops  !  a  sum  lamentable  indeed,  as  to  the  means 
by  which  it  was  procured,  but  still  one  which,  if  it  were  not 
restored  to  those  to  whom  it  belonged,  might  save  us  from 
taxes.  And  how  was  it,  that  when  you  owed  forty  millions 
of  sesterces  on  the  fifteenth  of  March,  you  had  ceased  to  owe 


333  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

them  by  the  first  of  April?     Those  things  are  quite  countless 
which  were  purchased  of  different  people,  not  without  your 
knowledge ;   but  there  was  one  excellent  decree  posted  up  in 
the  Capitol  affecting  king  Deiotarus,  a  most  devoted  friend 
to  the  Roman  people.     And  when  that  decree  was  posted  up, 
there  was  no  one  who,  amid  all  his  indignation,  could  restrain 
his  laughter.      For  who  ever  was  a  more  bitter  enemy  to  an- 
other than  Caesar  was  to  Deiotarus  %     He  was  as  hostile  to 
him  as  he  was  to  this  order,  to  the  equestrian  order,  to  the 
people  of  Massilia,  and  to  all  men  whom  he  knew  to  look  on 
the  republic  of  the  Roman  people  with  attachment.     But  this 
man,  who  neither  present  nor  absent  could  ever  obtain  from 
him  any  favor  or  justice  while  he  was  alive,  became  quite  an 
influential  man  with  him  when  he  was  dead.     When  present 
with  him  in  his  house  he  had  called  for  him  though  he  was 
his  host,  he  had  made  him  give  in  his  accounts  of  his  reven- 
ue, he  had  exacted  money  from  him ;  he  had  established  one 
of  his  Greek  retainers  in  his  tetrarchy,  and  he  had  taken  Ar- 
menia from  him,  which  had  been  given  to  him  by  the  senate. 
While  he  was  alive  he  deprived  him  of  all  these  things ;  now 
that  he  is  dead,  he  gives  them  back  again.     And  in  what 
words'?     At  one  time  he  says,  "that  it  appears  to  him  to  be 
just,  .  .  ."  at  another,  "that  it  appears  not  to  be  unjust.  .  .  ." 
What  a  strange  combination  of  words !     But  while  alive  (I 
know  this,  for  I  always  supported  Deiotarus,  who  was  at  a 
distance),  he  never  said  that  any  thing  which  we  were  ask- 
ing for,  for  him,  appeared  just  to  him.     A  bond  for  ten  mill- 
ions of  sesterces  was  entered  into  in  the  women's  apartment 
(where  many  things  have  been  sold,  and  are  still  being  sold), 
by  his  embassadors,  well-meaning  men,  but  timid  and  inexpe- 
rienced in  business,  without  my  advice  or  that  of  the  rest  of 
the  hereditary  friends  of  the  monarch.     And  I  advise  you  to 
consider  carefully  what  you  intend  to  do  with  reference  to 
this  bond.     For  the  king  himself,  of  his  own  accord,  without 
waiting  for  any  of  Caesar's  memoranda,  the  moment  that  he 
heard  of  his  death,, recovered  his  own  rights  by  his  own  cour- 
age and  energy.     He,  like  a  wise  man,  knew  that  this  was 
always  the  law,  that  those  men  from  whom  the  things  which 
tyrants  had  taken  away  had  been  taken,  might  recover  them 
when  the  tyrants  were  slain.     No  lawyer,  then  fore,  not  even 
he  who  is  your  lawyer  and  yours  alone,  and  by  whose  advice 
you  do  all  these  things,  will  say  that  any  thing  is  due  to  you 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  337 

by  virtue  of  that  bond  for  those  things  which  had  been  recov- 
ered before  that  bond  was  executed.  For  he  did  not  purchase 
them  of  you ;  but,  before  you  undertook  to  sell  him  his  own 
property,  he  had  taken  possession  of  it.  He  was  a  man — we, 
indeed,  deserve  to  be  despised,  who  hate  the  author  of  the  ac- 
tions, but  uphold  the  actions  themselves. 

XXXVIII.  Why  need  I  mention  the  countless  mass  of  pa- 
pers, the  innumerable  autographs  which  have  been  brought  for- 
ward ?  writings  of  which  there  are  imitators  who  sell  their  for- 
geries as  openly  as  if  they  were  gladiators'  play-bills.  There- 
fore, there  are  now  such  heaps  of  money  piled  up  in  that 
man's  house,  that  it  is  weighed  out  instead  of  being  counted.1 
But  how  blind  is  avarice  !  Lately,  too,  a  document  has  been 
posted  up  by  which  the  most  wealthy  cities  of  the  Cretans 
are  released  from  tribute ;  and  by  which  it  is  ordained  that 
after  the  expiration  of  the  consulship  of  Marcus  Brutus, 
Crete  shall  cease  to  be  a  province.  Are  you  in  your  senses  ! 
Ought  you  not  to  be  put  in  confinement?  Was  it  possible 
for  there  really  to  be  a  decree  of  Caesar's  exempting  Crete 
after  the  departure  of  Marcus  Brutus,  when  Brutus  had  no 
connection  whatever  with  Crete  while  Caesar  was  alive  ?  But 
by  the  sale  of  this  decree  (that  you  may  not,  O  conscript 
fathers,  think  it  wholly  ineffectual)  you  have  lost  the  province 
of  Crete.  There  was  nothing  in  the  whole  world  which  any 
one  wanted  to  buy  that  this  fellow  was  not  ready  to  sell. 

Caesar  too,  I  suppose,  made  the  law  about  the  exiles  which 
you  have  posted  up.  I  do  not  wish  to  press  upon  any  one  in 
misfortune  ;  I  only  complain,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  return 
of  those  men  has  had  discredit  thrown  upon  it,  whose  cause 
Caesar  judged  to  be  different  from  that  of  the  rest ;  and  in  the 
second  place,  I  do  not  know  why  you  do  not  mete  out  the 
same  measure  to  all.  For  there  can  not  be  more  than  three 
or  four  left.  Why  do  not  they  who  are  in  similar  misfortune 
enjoy  a  similar  degree  of  your  mercy?  Why  do  you  treat 
them  as  you  treated  your  uncle  %  about  whom  you  refused  to 
pass  a  law  when  you  were  passing  one  about  all  the  rest ;  and 
whom  at  the  same  time  you  encouraged  to  stand  for  the  cen- 
sorship, and  instigated  him  to  a  canvass,  which  excited  the  rid- 
icule and  the  complaint  of  every  one. 

But  why  did  you  not  hold  that  comitia?     Was  it  because 

1  This  accidental  resemblance  to  the  incident  in  the  "  Forty  Thieves" 
In  the  "  Arabian  Nights"  i6  curious. 

P 


338  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

a  tribune  ot  the  people  announced  that  there  had  been  an  ill- 
omened  Hash  of  lightning  seen  ?  When  you  have  any  interest 
of  your  own  to  serve,  then  auspices  are  all  nothing  ;  but  when 
it  is  only  your  friends  who  are  concerned,  then  you  become 
scrupulous.  "What  more?  Did  you  not  also  desert  him  in 
the  matter  of  the  septemvirate  t1  "Yes,  for  he  interfered  with 
me."  What  were  you  afraid  of?  I  suppose  you  were  afraid 
that  you  would  be  able  to  refuse  him  nothing  if  he  were  re- 
stored to  the  full  possession  of  his  rights.  You  loaded  him 
with  every  species  of  insult,  a  man  whom  you  ought  to  have 
considered  in  the  place  of  a  father  to  you,  if  you  had  had  any 
piety  or  natural  affection  at  all.  You  put  away  his  daughter, 
your  own  cousin,  having  already  looked  out  and  provided 
yourself  beforehand  with  another.  That  was  not  enough. 
You  accused  a  most  chaste  woman  of  misconduct.  What  can 
go  beyond  this  ?  Yet  you  were  not  content  with  this.  In  a 
very  full  senate  held  on  the  first  of  January,  while  your  uncle 
was  present,  you  dared  to  say  that  this  was  your  reason  for 
hatred  of  Dolabella,  that  you  had  ascertained  that  he  had 
committed  adultery  with  your  cousin  and  your  wife.  Who 
can  decide  whether  it  was  more  shameless  of  you  to  make 
such  profligate  and  such  impious  statements  against  that  un- 
happy woman  in  the  senate,  or  more  wicked  to  make  them 
against  Dolabella,  or  more  scandalous  to  make  them  in  the 
presence  of  her  father,  or  more  cruel  to  make  them  at  all  ? 

XXXIX.  However,  let  us  return  to  the  subject  of  Caesars 
written  papers.  How  were  they  verified  by  you  ?  For  the 
acts  of  Caesar  were  for  peace's  sake  confirmed  by  the  senate ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  acts  which  Caesar  had  really  done,  not  those 
which  Antonius  said  that  Caesar  had  done.  Where  do  all 
these  come  from  ?  By  whom  are  they  produced  and  vouched 
for?  If  they  are  false,  why  are  they  ratified?  If  they  are 
true,  why  are  they  sold  ?  But  the  vote  which  was  come  to 
enjoined  you,  after  the  first  of  June,  to  make  an  examination 
of  Caesar's  acts  with  the  assistance  of  a  council.  What  coun- 
cil did  you  consult  ?  whom  did  you  ever  invite  to  help  you  ? 

1  The  scptemviri,  at  full  length  septemviri  cpuloncs  or  cpulonum,  were 
originally  triumviri.  They  were  first  created  b.  c.  198,  to  attend  to  the 
epulum  Jovis,  and  the  banquets  given  in  honor  of  the  other  gods,  which 
duty  had  originally  belonged  to  the  pontificcs.  Julius  Csesar  added  three 
more,  but  that  alteration  did  not  last.  They  formed  a  collegium,  and  were 
one  of  the  four  great  religious  corporations  at  Rome  with  the  pontificcs, 
the  augurcs,  and  the  qui/idcccmviri.     Smith,  Diet.     Ant.  v.  Epuloncs. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  339 

what  was  the  first  of  June  that  you  waited  for  !  Was  it  that 
day  on  which  you,  having  traveled  all  through  the  colonies 
where  the  veterans  were  settled,  returned  escorted  by  a  band 
of  armed  men  ! 

Oli  what  a   splendid   progress   of  yours  was  that   in   the 
months  of  April  and  May,  when  you  attempted  even  to  lead 
a  colony  to  Capua  !      How  you  made  your  escape  from  thence, 
or  rather  how  you  barely  made  your  escape,  we  all  know. 
And  now  you  are  still  threatening  that  city.     I  wish   you 
would  try,  and  we  should  not  then  be  forced  to  say  "  barely." 
However,  what  a  splendid  progress  of  yours  that  was  !     Why 
need  I  mention  your  preparations  for  banquets,  why  your  fran- 
tic hard  drinking  !     Those  things  are  only  an  injury  to  your- 
self; these  are  injuries  to  us.     We  thought  that  a  great  blow 
was  inflicted  on  the  republic  when  the  Campanian  district  was 
released  from  the  payment  of  taxes,  in  order  to  be  given  to 
the  soldiery ;   but  you  have  divided  it  among  your  partners  in 
drunkenness  and  gambling.     I  tell  you,   O  conscript  fathers, 
that  a  lot  of  buffoons  and  actresses  have  been  settled  in  the 
district  of  Campania.     Why  should  I  now  complain  of  what 
has  been  done  in  the  district  of  Leontini?     Although   for- 
merly these  lands  of  Campania  and  Leontini  were  considered 
part  of  the  patrimony  of  the  Roman  people,  and  were  produc- 
tive of  great  revenue,  and  very  fertile.     You  gave  your  phy-^ 
sician  three  thousand  acres ;  what  would  you  have  done  if  he 
had  cured  you  ?  and  two  thousand  to  your  master  of  oratory ; 
what  would  you  have  done  if  he  had  been  able  to  make  you 
eloquent  ?     However,  let  us  return  to  your  progress,  and  to 
Italy. 

XL.  You  led  a  colony  to  Casilinum,  a  place  to  which  Cae- 
sar had  previously  led  one.  You  did  indeed  consult  me  by 
letter  about  the  colony  of  Capua  (but  I  should  have  given  you 
the  same  answer  about  Casilinum),  whether  you  could  legally 
lead  a  new  colony  to  a  place  where  there  was  a  colony  already. 
I  said  that  a  new  colony  could  not  be  legally  conducted  to  an 
existing  colony,  which  had  been  established  with  a  due  observ- 
ance of  the  auspices,  as  long  as  it  remained  in  a  flourishing 
state ;  but  I  wrote  you  word  that  new  colonists  might  be  en- 
rolled among  the  old  ones.  But  you,  elated  and  insolent,  dis- 
regarding all  the  respect  due  to  the  auspices,  led  a  colony  to 
Casilinum,  whither  one  had  been  previously  led  a  few  years 
before ;  in  order  to  erect  your  standard  there,  and  to  mark  out 


340  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  line  of  the  new  colony  with  a  plow.  And  by  that  plow 
you  almost  grazed  the  gate  of  Capua,  so  as  to  diminish  the 
territory  of  that  nourishing  colony.  After  this  violation  of 
all  religious  observances,  you  hasten  off  to  the  estate  of  Marcus 
Varro,  a  most  conscientious  and  upright  man,  at  Casinum. 
By  what  right?  with  what  face  do  you  do  this?  By  just  the 
same,  you  will  say,  as  that  by  which  you  entered  on  the  estates 
of  the  heirs  of  Lucius  Rubrius,  or  of  the  heirs  of  Lucius  Tur- 
selius,  or  on  other  innumerable  possessions.  If  you  got  the 
right  from  any  auction,  let  the  auction  have  all  the  force  to 
which  it  is  entitled  ;  let  writings  be  of  force,  provided  they  are 
the  writings  of  Caesar,  and  not  your  own  ;  writings  by  which 
you  are  bound,  not  those  by  which  you  have  released  yourself 
from  obligation. 

But  who  says  that  the  estate  of  Varro  at  Casinum  was  ever 
sold  at  all  ?  who  ever  saw  any  notice  of  that  auction  1  who 
ever  heard  the  voice  of  the  auctioneer  ?  You  say  that  you 
sent  a  man  to  Alexandria  to  buy  it  of  Caesar.  It  was  too 
long  to  wait  for  Caesar  himself  to  come  !  But  who  ever  heard 
(and  there  was  no  man  about  whose  safety  more  people  were 
anxious)  that  any  part  whatever  of  Varro's  property  had  been 
confiscated  %  What  1  what  shall  we  say  if  Caesar  even  wrote 
you  that  you  were  to  give  it  up?  What  can  be  said  strong 
enough  for  such  enormous  impudence?  Remove  for  a  while 
those  swords  which  we  see  around  us.  You  shall  now  see 
that  the  cause  of  Caesar's  auctions  is  one  thing,  and  that  of 
your  confidence  and  rashness  is  another.  For  not  only  shall 
the  owner  drive  you  from  that  estate,  but  any  one  of  his 
friends,  or  neighbors,  or  hereditary  connections,  and  any  agent, 
will  have  the  right  to  do  so. 

XLI.  But  how  many  days  did  he  spend  reveling  in  the 
most  scandalous  manner  in  that  villa !  From  the  third  hour 
there  was  one  scene  of  drinking,  gambling,  and  vomiting. 
Alas  for  the  unhappy  house  itself!  how  different  a  master  from 
its  former  one  has  it  fallen  to  the  share  of!  Although,  how 
is  he  the  master  at  all  ?  but  still  by  how  different  a  person  has 
it  been  occupied  !  For  Marcus  Varro  used  it  as  a  place  of  re- 
tirement for  his  studies,  not  as  a  theatre  for  his  lusts.  What 
noble  discussions  used  to  take  place  in  that  villa!  what  ideas 
were  originated  there!  what  writings  were  composed  there! 
The  laws  of  the  Roman  people,  the  memorials  of  our  ances- 
tors, the  consideration  of  all  wisdom  and  all  learning,  were 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  341 

the  topics  that  used  to  be  dwelt  on  then  ; — but  now,  while 
you  were  the  intruder  there  (for  I  will  not  call  you  the  mas- 
ter), every  place  was  resounding  with  the  voices  of  drunken 
men  ;  the  pavements  were  floating  with  wine  ;  the  walls  were 
dripping ;  nobly-born  boys  were  mixing  with  the  basest  hire- 
lings ;  prostitutes  with  mothers  of  families.  Men  came  from 
Casinum,  from  Aquinum,  from  Interamna  to  salute  him.  No 
one  was  admitted.  That,  indeed,  was  proper.  For  the  or- 
dinary marks  of  respect  were  unsuited  to  the  most  profligate 
of  men.  When  going  from  thence  to  Rome  he  approached 
Aquinum,  a  pretty  numerous  company  (for  it  is  a  populous 
municipality)  came  out  to  meet  him.  But  he  was  carried 
through  the  town  in  a  covered  litter,  as  if  he  had  been  dead. 
The  people  of  Aquinum  acted  foolishly,  no  doubt ;  but  still 
they  were  in  his  road.  "What  did  the  people  of  Anagnia  do  ? 
who,  although  thev  were  out  of  his  line  of  road,  came  down 
to  meet  him,  in  order  to  pay  him  their  respects,  as  if  he  were 
consul.  It  is  an  incredible  thing  to  say,  but  still  it  was  only 
too  notorious  at  the  time,  that  he  returned  nobody's  saluta- 
tion ;  especially  as  he  had  two  men  of  Anagnia  with  him, 
Mustela  and  Laco ;  one  of  whom  had  the  care  of  his  swords, 
and  the  other  of  his  drinking-cups. 

Why  should  I  mention  the  threats  and  insults  with  which 
he  inveighed  against  the  people  of  Teanum  Sidicinum,  with 
which  he  harassed  the  men  of  Puteoli,  because  they  had 
adopted  Caius  Cassius  and  the  Bruti  as  their  patrons?  a 
choice  dictated,  in  truth,  by  great  wisdom,  and  great  zeal, 
benevolence,  and  affection  for  them ;  not  by  violence  and 
force  of  arms,  by  which  men  have  been  compelled  to  choose 
you,  and  Basilus,  and  others  like  you  both, — men  whom  no 
'one  would  choose  to  have  for  his  own  clients,  much  less  to 
be  their  client  himself. 

XLII.  In  the  mean  time,  while  you  yourself  were  absent,  - 
what  a  day  was  that  for  your  colleague  when  he  overturned  *V 
that  tomb  in  the  forum,  which  you  were  accustomed  to  re- 
gard with  veneration  !  And  when  that  action  was  announced 
to  you,  you — as  is  agreed  upon  by  all  who  were  with  you  at 
the  time — fainted  away.  What  happened  afterward  I  know 
not.  I  imagine  that  terror  and  arms  got  the  mastery.  At 
all  events,  you  dragged  your  colleague  down  from  his  heaven  ; 
and  you  rendered  him,  not  even  now  like  yourself,  at  all  events 
verv  unlike  his  own  former  self. 


342  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

After  that  what  a  return  was  that  of  yours  to  Rome! 
How  great  was  the  agitation  of  the  whole  city  !  We  recol- 
lected Cinna  being  too  powerful ;  after  him  we  had  seen  Syl- 
la  with  absolute  authority,  and  we  had  lately  beheld  Caesar 
acting  as  king.  There  were  perhaps  swords,  but  they  were 
sheathed,  and  they  were  not  very  numerous.  But  how  great 
and  how  barbaric  a  procession  is  yours !  Men  follow  you  in 
battle  array  with  drawn  swords ;  we  see  whole  litters  full  of 
shields  borne  along.  And  yet  by  custom,  O  conscript  fathers, 
we  have  become  inured  and  callous  to  these  things.  When 
on  the  first  of  June  we  wished  to  come  to  the  senate,  as  it  had 
been  ordained,  we  were  suddenly  frightened  and  forced  to  flee. 
But  he,  as  having  no  need  of  a  senate,  did  not  miss  any  of 
us,  and  rather  rejoiced  at  our  departure,  and  immediately 
proceeded  to  those  marvelous  exploits  of  his.  He  who  had 
defended  the  memoranda  of  Caesar  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
profit,  overturned  the  laws  of  Caesar — and  good  laws  too — 
for  the  sake  of  being  able  to  agitate  the  republic.  He  in- 
creased the  number  of  years  that  magistrates  were  to  enjoy 
their  provinces  ;  moreover,  though  he  was  bound  to  be  the 
defender  of  the  acts  of  Caesar,  he  rescinded  them  both  with 
reference  to  public  and  private  transactions. 

In  public  transactions  nothing  is  more  authoritative  than 
law ;  in  private  affairs  the  most  valid  of  all  deeds  is  a  will. 
Of  the  laws,  some  he  abolished  without  giving  the  least  notice; 
others  he  gave  notice  of  bills  to  abolish.  Wills  he  annulled  ; 
though  they  have  been  at  all  times  held  sacred  even  in  the 
case  of  the  very  meanest  of  the  citizens.  As  for  the  statues 
and  pictures  which  Caesar  bequeathed  to  the  people,  together 
with  his  gardens,  those  he  carried  away,  some  to  the  house 
which  belonged  to  Pompeius,  and  some  to  Scipio's  villa. 

XLIII.  And  are  you  then  diligent  in  doing  honor  to  Cae- 
sar's memory  1  Do  you  love  him  even  now  that  he  is  dead  ? 
What  greater  honor  had  he  obtained  than  that  of  having  a 
i  holy  cushion,  an  image,  a  temple,  and  a  priest?  As  then 
Jupiter,  and  Mars,  and  Quirinus  have  priests,  so  Marcus  An- 
tonius  is  the  priest  of  the  god  Julius.  Why  then  do  you  de- 
lay ?  why  are  not  you  inaugurated  ?  Choose  a  day ;  select 
some  one  to  inaugurate  you ;  we  are  colleagues ;  no  one  will 
refuse.  O  you  detestable  man,  whether  you  are  the  priest  of 
a  tyrant,  or  of  a  dead  man !  I  ask  you  then,  whether  you  are 
ignorant  what  day  this  is?     Are  you  ignorant  that  yesterday 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  343 

was  the  fourth  day  of  the  Roman  games  in  the  Circus?  and 
that  you  yourself  submitted  a  motion  to  the  people,  that  a 
fifth  day  should  be  added  besides,  in  honor  of  Caesar  ?  Why 
are  we  not  all  clad  in  the  praetexta  f  Why  are  we  permit- 
ting the  honor  which  by  your  law  was  appointed  for  Caesar 
to  be  deserted  ?  Had  you  no  objection  to  so  holy  a  day  being 
polluted  by  the  addition  of  supplications,  while  you  did  not 
choose  it  to  be  so  by  the  addition  of  ceremonies  connected 
with  a  sacred  cushion?  Either  take  away  religion  in  every 
case,  or  preserve  it  in  every  case. 

You  will  ask  whether  I  approve  of  his  having  a  sacred 
cushion,  a  temple  and  a  priest  ?  I  approve  of  none  of  those 
things.  But  you,  who  are  defending  the  acts  of  Caesar,  what 
reason  can  you  give  for  defending  some,  and  disregarding 
others  1  unless,  indeed,  you  choose  to  admit  that  you  measure 
every  thing  by  your  own  gain,  and  not  by  his  dignity.  What 
will  you  now  reply  to  these  arguments  (for  I  am  waiting  to 
witness  your  eloquence  ;  I  knew  your  grandfather,  who  was  a 
most  eloquent  man,  but  I  know  you  to  be  a  more  undisguised 
speaker  than  he  was ;  he  never  harangued  the  people  naked ; 
but  we  have  seen  your  breast,  man,  without  disguise  as  you 
are)?  Will  you  make  any  reply  to  these  statements?  will  you 
dare  to  open  your  mouth  at  all?  Can  you  find  one  single 
article  in  this  long  speech  of  mine,  to  which  you  trust  that 
you  can  make  any  answer?  However,  we  will  say  no  more 
of  what  is  past. 

XLIV.  But  this  single  day,  this  very  day  that  now  is,  this 
very  moment  while  I  am  speaking,  defend  your  conduct  dur- 
ing this  very  moment,  if  you  can.  Why  has  the  senate  been 
surrounded  with  a  belt  of  armed  men  ?  Why  are  your  satel- 
lites listening  to  me  sword  in  hand  ?  Why  are  not  the  fold- 
ing-doors of  the  temple  of  Concord  open  ?  Why  do  you  bring 
men  of  all  nations  the  most  barbarous,  Ityreans,  armed  with 
arrows,  into  the  forum  ?  He  says,  that  he  does  so  as  a  guard. 
Is  it  not  then  better  to  perish  a  thousand  times  than  to  be 
unable  to  live  in  one's  own  city  without  a  guard  of  armed 
men?  But  believe  me,  there  is  no  protection  in  that; — a 
man  must  be  defended  by  the  affection  and  good-will  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  not  by  arms.  The  Roman  people  will  take 
them  from  you,  will  wrest  them  from  your  hands ;  I  wish  that 
they  may  do  so  while  we  are  still  safe.  But  however  you 
troat  us,  as  long  as  you  adopt  those  counsels,  it  is  impossible 


344  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

for  you,  believe  me,  to  last  long.  In  truth,  that  wife  of  yours, 
who  is  so  far  removed  from  covetousness,  and  whom  I  men- 
tion without  intending  any  slight  to  her,  has  been  too  long 
owing1  her  third  payment  to  the  state.  The  Roman  people 
has  men  to  whom  it  ean  intrust  the  helm  of  the  state ;  and 
wherever  they  are,  there  is  all  the  defense  of  the  republic, 
or  rather,  there  is  the  republic  itself;  which  as  yet  has  only 
avenged,  but  has  not  re-established  itself.  Truly  and  surely 
has  the  republic  most  high-born  youths  ready  to  defend  it, — 
though  they  may  for  a  time  keep  in  the  background  from  a 
desire  for  tranquillity,  still  they  can  be  recalled  by  the  repub- 
lic at  any  time. 

The  name  of  peace  is  sweet,  the  thing  itself  is  most  salutary. 
But  between  peace  and  slavery  there  is  a  wide  difference. 
Peace  is  liberty  in  tranquillity;  slavery  is  the  worst  of  all 
evils, — to  be  repelled,  if  need  be,  not  only  by  war,  but  even  by 
death.  But  if  those  deliverers  of  ours  have  taken  themselves 
away  out  of  our  sight,  still  they  have  left  behind  the  example 
of  their  conduct.  They  have  done  what  no  one  else  had  done. 
Brutus  pursued  Tarquinius  with  war ;  who  was  a  king  when 
it  was  lawful  for  a  king  to  exist  in  Rome.  Spurius  Cassias, 
Spurius  Melius,  and  Marcus  Manlius  were  all  slain  because 
they  were  suspected  of  aiming  at  regal  power.  These  are  the 
first  men  who  have  ever  ventured  to  attack,  sword  in  hand,  a 
man  who  was  not  aiming  at  regal  power,  but  actually  reigning. 
And  their  action  is  not  only  of  itself  a  glorious  and  godlike 
exploit,  but  it  is  also  one  put  forth  for  our  imitation ;  espe- 
cially since  by  it  they  have  acquired  such  glory  as  appears 
hardly  to  be  bounded  by  heaven  itself.  For  although  in  the 
veiy  consciousness  of  a  glorious  action  there  is  a  certain  re- 
ward, still  I  do  not  consider  immortality  of  glory  a  thing  to  be 
despised  by  one  who  is  himself  mortal. 

XLY.  Recollect  then,  O  Marcus  Antonius,  that  day  on 
which  you  abolished  the  dictatorship.  Set  before  you  the  joy 
of  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome;  compare  it  with  this  in- 
famous market  held  by  you  and  by  your  friends  ;  and  then  you 
will  understand  how  great  is  the  difference  between  praise  and 
profit.  But  in  truth,  just  as  some  people,  through  some  dis- 
ease which  has  blunted  the  senses,  have  no  conception  of  the 
niceness   of  food,   so   men  who   are   lustful,  avaricious,  and 

1  It  has  been  explained  before  that  Fuhia  bad  been  the  widow  of 
Clodius  and  of  Curio,  before  she  married  Antonius. 


THE  SECOND  PHILIPPIC.  345 

criminal,  have  no  taste  for  true  glory.  But  if  praise  can  not 
allure  you  to  act  rightly,  still  can  not  even  fear  turn  you 
away  from  the  most  shameful  actions?  You  are  not  afraid 
of  the  courts  of  j  ustice.  If  it  is  because  you  are  innocent,  I 
praise  you  ;  if  because  you  trust  in  your  power  of  overbear- 
ing them  by  violence,  are  you  ignorant  of  what  that  man  has 
to  fear,  who  on  such  an  account  as  that  does  not  fear  the 
courts  of  justice? 

But  if  you  are  not  afraid  of  brave  men  and  illustrious  citi- 
zens, because  they  are  prevented  from  attacking  you  by  your 
armed  retinue,  still,  believe  me,  your  own  fellows  will  not  long 
endure  you.  And  what  a  life  is  it,  day  and  night  to  be  fear- 
ing danger  from  one's  own  people !  Unless,  indeed,  you  have 
men  who  are  bound  to  you  by  greater  kindnesses  than  some  of 
those  men  by  whom  he  was  slain  were  bound  to  Caesar ;  or  un- 
less there  are  points  in  which  you  can  be  compared  with  him. 

In  that  man  were  combined  genius,  method,  memory,  lit- 
erature, prudence,  deliberation,  and  industry.  He  had  per- 
formed exploits  in  war  which,  though  calamitous  for  the  re- 
public, were  nevertheless  mighty  deeds.  Having  for  many 
years  aimed  at  being  a  king,  he  had  with  great  labor,  and 
much  personal  clanger,  accomplished  what  he  intended.  He 
had  conciliated  the  ignorant  multitude  by  presents,  by  monu- 
ments, by  largesses  of  food,  and  by  banquets;  he  had  bound 
his  own  party  to  him  by  rewards,  his  adversaries  by  the  ap- 
pearances of  clemency.  Why  need  I  say  much  on  such  a  sub- 
ject ?  He  had  already  brought  a  free  city,  partly  by  fear,  part- 
ly by  patience,  into  a  habit  of  slavery. 

XL VI.  With  him  I  can,  indeed,  compare  you  as  to  your  J'£ 
desire  to  reign  ;  but  in  all  other  respects  you  are  in  no  degree 
to  be  compared  to  him.  But  from  the  many  evils  which  by 
him  have  been  burned  into  the  republic,  there  is  still  this  good, 
that  the  Roman  people  has  now  learned  how  much  to  believe 
every  one,  to  whom  to  trust  itself,  and  against  whom  to  guard. 
Do  you  never  think  on  these  things  ?  And  do  you  not  under- 
stand that  it  is  enough  for  brave  men  to  have  learned  how  no- 
ble a  thing  it  is  as  to  the  act,  how  grateful  it  is  as  to  the  ben- 
efit done,  how  glorious  as  to  the  fame  acquired,  to  slay  a  ty- 
rant %  When  men  could  not  bear  him,  do  you  think  they  will 
bear  you  ?  Believe  me,  the  time  will  come  when  men  will  race 
with  one  another  to  do  this  deed,  and  when  no  one  will  wait 
for  the  tardy  arrival  of  an  opportunity. 

P2 


34G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Consider,  I  beg  you,  Marcus  Antonius,  do  some  time  or  oth- 
er consider  the  republic  :  think  of  the  family  of  which  you 
are  born,  not  of  the  men  with  whom  you  are  living.  Be  rec- 
onciled to  the  republic.  However,  do  you  decide  on  your  con- 
duct. As  to  mine,  I  myself  will  declare  what  that  shall  be.  I 
defended  the  republic  as  a  young  man,  I  will  not  abandon  it 
now  that  I  am  old.  I  scorned  the  sword  of  Catiline,  I  will 
not  quail  before  yours.  No,  I  will  rather  cheerfully  expose 
my  own  person,  if  the  liberty  of  the  city  can  be  restored  by 
my  death. 

May  the  indignation  of  the  Roman  people  at  last  bring  forth 
what  it  has  been  so  long  laboring  with.  In  truth,  if  twenty 
years  ago  in  this  very  temple  I  asserted  that  death  could  not 
come  prematurely  upon  a  man  of  consular  rank,  with  how 
much  more  truth  must  I  now  say  the  same  of  an  old  man  *? 
To  me,  indeed,  O  conscript  fathers,  death  is  now  even  desira- 
ble, after  all  the  honors  which  I  have  gained,  and  the  deeds 
which  I  have  done.  I  only  pray  for  these  two  things :  one, 
that  dying  I  may  leave  the  Roman  people  free.  No  greater 
boon  than  this  can  be  granted  me  by  the  immortal  gods.  The 
other,  that  every  one  may  meet  with  a  fate  suitable  to  his  de- 
serts and  conduct  toward  the  republic. 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC,  OR  THIRD  SPEECH  OF  M.  T.  CICERO 
AGAINST  MARCUS  ANTONIUS.  at 

ID' 



THE  ARGUMENT.  *^ 

After  the  composition  of  the  last  speech,  Octavius,  considering  that  he 
had  reason  to  be  offended  with  Antonius,  formed  a  plot  for  his  assas- 
sination by  means  of  some  slaves,  which  however  was  discovered.  In 
the  mean  time,  Antonius  began  to  declare  more  and  more  openly 
against  the  conspirators.  He  erected  a  statue  in  the  forum  to  Caesar, 
with  the  inscription,  "  To  the  most  worthy  Defender  of  his  Country." 
Octavius,  at  the  same  time,  was  trying  to  win  over  the  soldiers  of  his 
uncle  Julius,  and  outbidding  Antonius  in  all  his  promises  to  them,  so 
that  he  soon  collected  a  formidable  army  of  veterans.  But  as  he  had 
no  public  office  to  give  him  any  color  for  his  conduct,  he  paid  great 
court  to  the  republican  party,  in  hopes  to  get  his  proceedings  author- 
ized by  the  senate  ;  and  he  kept  continually  pressing  Cicero  to  return 
to  Rome  and  support  him.     Cicero,  however,  for  some  time  kept  aloofj 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  347 

suspecting  partly  his  abilities,  on  account  of  his  exceeding  youth,  and 
partly  his  sincerity  in  reconciling  himself  to  his  uncle's  murderers  ; 
however,  at  last  he  returned,  after  expressly  stipulating  that  Octavius 
should  employ  ail  his  forces  in  defense  of  Brutus  and  his  accomplices. 

Antonius  left  Rome  about  the  end  of  September,  in  order  to  engage  in  his 
service  four  legions  of  Caesar's,  which  were  on  their  return  from  Mace- 
donia. But  when  they  arrived  at  Brundusium  three  of  them  refused  to 
follow  him,  on  which  he  murdered  all  their  centurions,  to  the  number 
of  three  hundred,  who  were  all  put  to  death  in  his  lodgings,  in  the 
sight  of  himself  and  Fulvia  his  wife,  and  then  returned  to  Rome  with 
the  one  legion  which  he  had  prevailed  on  ;  while  the  other  three  le- 
gions declared  as  yet  for  neither  party.  On  his  arrival  in  Rome  he 
published  many  very  violent  edicts,  and  summoned  the  senate  to  meet 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  October  ;  then  he  adjourned  it  to  the  twenty- 
eighth  ;  and  a  day  or  two  before  it  met,  he  heard  that  two  out  of  the 
three  legions  had  declared  for  Octavius,  and  encamped  at  Alba.  And 
this  news  alarmed  him  so  much,  that  he  abandoned  his  intention  of 
proposing  to  the  senate  a  decree  to  declare  Octavius  a  public  enemy, 
and  after  distributing  some  provinces  among  his  friends,  he  put  on  his 
military  robes,  and  left  the  city  to  take  possession  of  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
which  had  been  assigned  to  him  by  a  pretended  law  of  the  people, 
ajjainst  the  will  of  the  senate. 

On  the  news  of  his  departure  Cicero  returned  to  Rome,  where  he  arrived 
on  the  ninth  of  December.  He  immediately  conferred  with  Pansa,  one 
of  the  consuls  elect  (Hirtius  his  colleague  was  ill),  as  to  the  measures 
to  be  taken.  He  was  again  addressed  with  earnest  solicitations  by  the 
friends  of  Octavius,  who,  to  confirm  his  belief  in  his  good  intentions, 
allowed  Casca,  who  had  been  of  the  slayers  of  Caesar,  and  had  himself 
given  him  the  first  blow,  to  enter  on  his  office  as  tribune  of  the  people 
on  the  tenth  of  December. 

The  new  tribunes  convoked  the  senate  for  the  nineteenth  ;  on  which  oc- 
casion Cicero  had  intended  to  be  absent ;  but  receiving  the  day  before 
the  edict  of  Decimus  Brutus,  by  which  he  forbade  Antonius  to  enter 
his  province  (immediately  after  the  death  of  Caesar  he  had  taken  pos- 
session of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  which  had  been  conferred  on  him  by  Caesar), 
and  declared  that  he  would  defend  it  against  him  by  force,  and  preserve 
it  in  its  duty  to  the  senate,  he  thought  it  necessary  to  procure  for  Bru- 
tus a  resolution  of  the  senate  in  his  favor.  He  went  down  therefore 
very  early,  and,  in  a  very  full  house,  delivered  the  following  speech. 

I.  We  have  been  assembled  at  length,  O  conscript  fathers, 
altogether  later  than  the  necessities  of  the  republic  required ; 
but  still  we  are  assembled ;  a  measure  which  I,  indeed,  have 
been  every  day  demanding;  inasmuch  as  I  saw  that  a  nefa- 
rious war  against  our  altars  and  our  hearths,  against  our 
lives  and  our  fortunes,  was,  I  will  not  say  being  prepared, 
but  being  actually  waged  by  a  profligate  and  desperate  man. 
People  are  waiting  for  the  first  of  January.  But  Antonius 
is  not  waiting  for  that  day,  who  is  now  attempting  with  an 
army  to  invade  the  province   of  Decimus  Brutus,  a  most 


348  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

illustrious  and  excellent  man.  And  when  he  has  procured 
reinforcements  and  equipments  there,  he  threatens  that  he 
will  come  to  this  city.  What  is  the  use  then  of  waiting,  or 
of  even  a  delay  for  the  very  shortest  time  ?  For  although  the 
first  of  January  is  at  hand,  still  a  short  time  is  a  long  one  for 
people  who  are  not  prepared.  For  a  day,  or  I  should  rather 
eay  an  hour,  often  brings  great  disasters,  if  no  precautions 
are  taken.  And  it  is  not  usual  to  wait  for  a  fixed  day  for 
holding  a  council,  as  it  is  for  celebrating  a  festival.  But  if 
the  first  of  January  had  fallen  on  the  day  when  Antonius 
first  fled  from  the  city,  or  if  people  had  not  waited  for  it, 
we  should  by  this  time  have  no  war  at  all.  For  we  should 
easily  have  crushed  the  audacity  of  that  frantic  man  by  the 
authority  of  the  senate  and  the  unanimity  of  the  Roman 
people.  And  now,  indeed,  I  feel  confident  that  the  consuls 
elect  will  do  so,  as  soon  as  they  enter  on  their  magistracy. 
For  they  are  men  of  the  highest  courage,  of  the  most  con- 
summate wisdom,  and  they  will  act  in  perfect  harmony  with 
each  other.  But  my  exhortations  to  rapid  and  instant  action 
are  prompted  by  a  desire  not  merely  for  victory,  but  for 
speedy  victory. 

For  how  long  are  we  to  trust  to  the  prudence  of  an  individ- 
.ual  to  repel  so  important,  so  cruel,  and  so  nefarious  a  war? 
Why  is  not  the  public  authority  thrown  into  the  scale  as 
quickly  as  possible  ? 

II.  Caius  Caesar,  a  young  man,  or,  I  should  rather  say, 
almost  a  boy,  endued  with  an  incredible  and  godlike  degree 
of  wisdom  and  valor,  at  the  time  when  the  phrensy  of  Anto- 
nius was  at  its  height,  and  when  his  cruel  and  mischievous 
return  from  Brundusium  was  an  object  of  apprehension  to 
all,  while  we  neither  desired  him  to  do  so,  nor  thought  of 
such  a  measure,  nor  ventured  even  to  wish  it  (because  it  did 
not  seem  practicable),  collected  a  most  trustworthy  army  from 
the  invincible  body  of  veteran  soldiers,  and  has  spent  his  own 
patrimony  in  doing  so.  Although  I  have  not  used  the  expres- 
sion which  I  ought, — for  he  has  not  spent  it, — he  has  invest- 
ed it  in  the  safety  of  the  republic. 

And  although  it  is  not  possible  to  requite  him  with  all  the 
thanks  to  which  he"  is  entitled,  still  we  ought  to  feel  all  the 
gratitude  toward  him  which  our  minds  are  capable  of  con- 
ceiving. For  who  is  so  ignorant  of  public  affairs,  so  entirely 
indifferent  to  all  thoughts  of  the  republic,  as  not  to  see  that, 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  349 

if  Marcus  Antonius  could  have  come  with  those  forces  which 
he  made  sure  that  he  should  have,  from  Brundusium  to  Rome, 
as  he  threatened,  there  would  have  been  no  description  of 
cruelty  which  he  would  not  have  practiced?  A  man  who  in 
the  house  of  his  entertainer  at  Brundusium  ordered  so  many 
most  gallant  men  and  virtuous  citizens  to  be  murdered,  and 
whose  wife's  face  was  notoriously  besprinkled  with  the  blood 
of  men  dying  at  his  and  her  feet.  "VVho  is  there  of  us,  or 
what  eood  man  is  there  at  all,  whom  a  man  stained  with  this 
barbarity  would  ever  have  spared  ;  especially  as  he  was  com- 
ing hither  much  more  angry  with  all  virtuous  men  than  he  had 
been  with  those  whom  he  had  massacred  there?  And  from 
this  calamity  Caesar  has  delivered  the  republic  by  his  own  in- 
dividual prudence  (and,  indeed,  there  were  no  other  means  by 
which  it  could  have  been  done).  And  if  he  had  not  been  born 
in  this  republic  we  should,  owing  to  the  wickedness  of  Anto- 
nius, now  have  no  republic  at  all. 

For  this  is  what  I  believe,  this  is  my  deliberate  opinion, 
that  if  that  one  young  man  had  not  checked  the  violence  and 
inhuman  projects  of  that  frantic  man,  the  republic  would  have 
been  utterly  destroyed.  And  to  him  we  must,  O  conscript 
fathers  (for  this  is  the  first  time,  met  in  such  a  condition,  that, 
owing  to  his  good  service,  we  are  at  liberty  to  say  freely  wrhat 
we  think  and  feel),  we  must,  I  say,  this  day  give  authority,  so 
that  he  may  be  able  to  defend  the  republic,  not  because  that 
defense  has  been  voluntarily  undertaken  by  him,  but  also  be- 
cause it  has  been  intrusted  to  him  by  us. 

III.  Nor  (since  now  after  a  long  interval  we  are  allowed  to 
speak  concerning  the  republic)  is  it  possible  for  us  to  be  silent 
about  the  Martial  legion.  For  what  single  man  has  ever 
been  braver,  what  single  man  has  ever  been  more  devoted  to 
the  republic  than  the  whole  of  the  Martial  legion  ?  which,  as 
soon  as  it  had  decided  that  Marcus  Antonius  was  an  enemv  of 
the  Roman  people,  refused  to  be  a  companion  of  his  insanity ; 
deserted  him  though  consul ;  which,  in  truth,  it  would  not 
have  done  if  it  had  considered  him  as  consul,  who,  as  it  saw, 
was  aiming  at  nothing  and  preparing  nothing  but  the  slaugh- 
ter of  the  citizens,  and  the  destruction  of  the  state.  And  that 
legion  has  encamped  at  Alba.  What  city  could  it  have  se- 
lected either  more  suitable  for  enabling  it  to  act,  or  more  faith- 
ful, or  full  of  more  gallant  men,  or  of  citizens  more  devoted  to 
the  republic? 


350  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

The  fourth  legion,  imitating  the  virtue  of  this  legion,  uiid<  r 
the  leadership  of  Lucius  Egnatuleius,  the  quaestor,  a  most  vir- 
tuous and  intrepid  citizen,  has  also  acknowledged  the  author- 
ity and  joined  the  army  of  Caius  Caesar. 

We,  therefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  must  take  care  that 
those  things  which  this  most  illustrious  young  man,  this  most 
excellent  of  all  men  has  of  his  own  accord  done,  and  still  is 
doing,  be  sanctioned  by  our  authority ;  and  the  admirable 
unanimity  of  the  veterans,  those  most  brave  men,  and  of  the 
Martial  and  of  the  fourth  legion,  in  their  zeal  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  the  republic,  be  encouraged  by  our  praise  and 
commendation.  And  let  us  pledge  ourselves  this  day  that 
their  advantage,  and  honors,  and  rewards  shall  be  cared  for 
by  us  as  soon  as  the  consuls  elect  have  entered  on  their  mag- 
istracy. 

IV.  And  the  things  which  I  have  said  about  Caesar  and 
about  his  army,  are,  indeed,  already  well  known  to  you.  For 
by  the  admirable  valor  of  Caesar,  and  by  the  firmness  of  the 
veteran  soldiers,  and  by  the  admirable  discernment  of  those 
legions  which  have  followed  our  authority,  and  the  liberty  of 
the  Roman  people,  and  the  valor  of  Caesar,  Antonius  has 
been  repelled  from  his  attempts  upon  our  lives.  But  these 
things,  as  I  have  said,  happened  before ;  but  this  recent  edict 
of  Decimus  Brutus,  which  has  just  been  issued,  can  certainly 
not  be  passed  over  in  silence.  For  he  promises  to  preserve 
the  province  of  Gaul  in  obedience  to  the  senate  and  people  of 
Rome.  O  citizen, born  for  the  republic;  mindful  of  the  name 
he  bears ;  imitator  of  his  ancestors !  Nor,  indeed,  was  the 
acquisition  of  liberty  so  much  an  object  of  desire  to  our  an- 
cestors when  Tarquinius  was  expelled,  as,  now  that  Antonius 
is  driven  away,  the  preservation  of  it  is  to  us.  Those  men 
had  learned  to  obey  kings  ever  since  the  foundation  of  the 
city,  but  we  from  the  time  when  the  kings  were  driven  out 
have  forgotten  how  to  be  slaves.  And  that  Tarquinius,  whom 
our  ancestors  expelled,  was  not  either  considered  or  called 
cruel  or  impious,  but  only  The  Proud.  That  vice  which  we 
have  often  borne  in  private  individuals,  our  ancestors  could 
not  endure  even  in  a  king. 

Lucius  Brutus  could  not  endure  a  proud  king.  Shall  Deci- 
mus Brutus  submit  to  the  kingly  power  of  a  man  who  is  wick- 
ed and  impious?  What  atrocity  did  Tarquinius  ever  commit 
equal  to  the  innumerable  acts  of  the  sort  which  Antonius  has 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  351 

done  and  is  still  doing  ?  Again,  the  kings  were  used  to  con- 
sult the  senate ;  nor,  as  is  the  case  when  Antonius  holds  a 
senate,  were  armed  barbarians  ever  introduced  into  the  coun- 
cil of  the  king.  The  kings  paid  due  regard  to  the  auspices, 
which  this  man,  though  consul  and  augur,  has  neglected,  not 
only  by  passing  laws  in  opposition  to  the  auspices,  but  also 
by  making  his  colleague  (whom  he  himself  had  appointed  ir- 
regularly, and  had  falsified  the  auspices  in  order  to  do  so) 
join  in  passing  them.  Again,  what  king  was  ever  so  pre- 
posterously impudent  as  to  have  all  the  profits,  and  kind- 
nesses, and  privileges  of  his  kingdom  on  sale?  But  what 
immunity  is  there,  what  rights  of  citizenship,  what  rewards 
that  this  man  has  not  sold  to  individuals,  and  to  cities,  and  to 
entire  provinces  ?  We  have  never  heard  of  any  thing  base  or 
sordid  being  imputed  to  Tarquinius.  But  at  the  house  of 
this  man  gold  was  constantly  being  weighed  out  in  the  spin- 
ning room,  and  money  was  being  paid,  and  in  one  single 
house  every  soul  who  had  any  interest  in  the  business  was 
selling  the  whole  empire  of  the  Roman  people.  We  have 
never  heard  of  any  executions  of  Roman  citizens  by  the  or- 
ders of  Tarquinius ;  but  this  man  both  at  Suessa  murdered 
the  man  whom  he  had  thrown  into  prison,  and  at  Brundusium 
massacred  about  three  hundred  most  gallant  men  and  most 
virtuous  citizens.  Lastly,  Tarquinius  was  conducting  a  war 
in  defense  of  the  Roman  people  at  the  very  time  when  he  was 
expelled.  Antonius  was  leading  an  army  against  the  Roman 
people  at  the  time  when,  being  abandoned  by  the  legions,  he 
cowered  at  the  name  of  Caesar  and  at  his  army,  and  neglect- 
ing the  regular  sacrifices,  he  offered  up  before  daylight  vows 
Adiich  he  could  never  mean  to  perform ;  and  at  this  very  mo- 
ment he  is  endeavoring  to  invade  a  province  of  the  Roman 
people.  The  Roman  people,  therefore,  has  already  received 
and  is  still  looking  for  greater  services  at  the  hand  of  Deci- 
mus  Brutus  than  our  ancestors  received  from  Lucius  Brutus, 
the  founder  of  this  race  and  name  which  we  oujrht  to  be  so 
anxious  to  preserve. 

V.  But,  while  all  slavery  is  miserable,  to  be  slave  to  a  man 
who  is  profligate,  unchaste,  effeminate,  never,  not  even  while 
in  fear,  sober,  is  surely  intolerable.  He,  then,  who  keeps 
this  man  out  of  Gaul,  especially  by  his  own  private  authority, 
judges,  and  judges  most  truly,  that  he  is  not  consul  at  all. 
We  must  take  care,  therefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  sanction 


352  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  private  decision  of  Decimus  Brutus  by  public  authority. 
Nor,  indeed,  ought  you  to  have  thought  Marcus  Antonius 
consul  at  any  time  since  the  Lupercalia.  For  on  the  day 
when  he,  in  the  sight  of  the  Roman  people,  harangued  the 
mob,  naked,  perfumed,  and  drunk,  and  labored  moreover  to 
put  a  crown  on  the  head  of  his  colleague,  on  that  day  he 
abdicated  not  only  the  consulship,  but  also  his  own  free- 
dom. At  all  events  he  himself  must  at  once  have  become 
a  slave,  if  Caesar  had  been  willing  to  accept  from  him  that 
ensign  of  royalty.  Can  I  then  think  him  a  consul,  can  I 
think  him  a  Roman  citizen,  can  I  think  him  a  freeman,  can 
I  even  think  him  a  man,  who  on  that  shameful  and  wick- 
ed day  showed  what  he  was  willing  to  endure  while  Caesar 
lived,  and  what  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  himself  after  he 
was  dead  ? 

Nor  is  it  possible  to  pass  over  in  silence  the  virtue  and  the 
firmness  and  the  dignity  of  the  province  of  Gaul.  For  that 
is  the  flower  of  Italy ;  that  is  the  bulwark  of  the  empire  of 
the  Roman  people ;  that  is  the  chief  ornament  of  our  dignity. 
But  so  perfect  is  the  unanimity  of  the  municipal  towns  and 
colonies  of  the  province  of  Gaul,  that  all  men  in  that  district 
appear  to  have  united  together  to  defend  the  authority  of  this 
order,  and  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people.  Wherefore,  O 
tribunes  of  the  people,  although  you  have  not  actually  brought 
any  other  business  before  us  beyond  the  question  of  protection, 
in  order  that  the  consuls  may  be  able  to  hold  the  senate  with 
safety  on  the  first  of  January,  still  you  appear  to  me  to  have 
acted  with  great  wisdom  and  great  prudence  in  giving  an  op- 
portunity of  debating  the  general  circumstances  of  the  repub- 
lic. For  when  you  decided  that  the  senate  could  not  be  held 
with  safety  without  some  protection  or  other,  you  at  the  same 
time  asserted  by  that  decision  that  the  wickedness  and  au- 
dacity of  Antonius  was  still  continuing  its  practices  within 
our  walls. 

VI.  Wherefore,  I  will  embrace  every  consideration  in  my 
opinion  which  I  am  now  going  to  deliver,  a  course  to  which 
you,  I  feel  sure,  have  no  objection;  in  order  that  authority 
may  be  conferred  by  us  on  admirable  generals,  and  that  hope 
of  reward  may  be  held  out  by  us  to  gallant  soldiers,  and  that 
a  formal  decision  may  be  come  to,  not  by  words  only,  but  also 
by  actions,  that  Antonius  is  not  only  not  a  consul,  but  is  even 
an  enemy.     For  if  he  be  consul,  then  the  legions  which  have 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  353 

deserted  the  consul  deserve  beating1  to  death.  Csesar  id  wick- 
ed, Brutus  is  impious,  since  they  of  their  own  heads  have  lev- 
ied an  army  against  the  consul.  But  if  new  honors  are  to  be 
sought  out  for  the  soldiers  on  account  of  their  divine  and  im- 
mortal merits,  and  if  it  is  quite  impossible  to  show  gratitude  ^ 
enough  to  the  generals,  who  is  there  who  must  not  think  that 
man  a  public  enemy,  whose  conduct  is  such  that  those  who 
are  in  arms  against  him  are  considered  the  saviors  of  the  re- 
public ? 

Again,  how  insulting  is  he  in  his  edicts  !  how  ignorant ! 
how  like  a  barbarian !  In  the  first  place,  how  has  he  heaped 
abuse  on  Caesar,  in  terms  drawn  from  his  recollection  of  his 
own  debauchery  and  profligacy.  For  where  can  we  find  any 
one  who  is  chaster  than  this  young  man  !  who  is  more  mod- 
est? where  have  we  among  our  youth  a  more  illustrious  exam- 
ple of  the  old-fashioned  strictness?  Who,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
more  profligate  than  the  man  who  abuses  him"?  He  reproach- 
es the  son  of  Caius  Cassar  with  his  want  of  noble  blood,  when 
even  his  natural2  father,  if  he  had  been  alive,  would  have  been 
made  consul.  His  mother  is  a  woman  of  Aricia.  You  might 
suppose  he  was  saying  a  woman  of  Tralles,  or  of  Ephesus. 
Just  see  how  we  all  who  come  from  the  municipal  towns — 
that  is  to  say,  absolutely  all  of  us — are  looked  down  upon ;  for 
how  few  of  us  are  there  who  do  not  come  from  those  towns? 
and  what  municipal  town  is  there  which  he  does  not  despise 
who  looks  with  such  contempt  on  Aricia;  a  town  most  an- 
cient as  to  its  antiquity  ;  if  we  regard  its  rights,  united  with 
us  by  treaty;  if  we  regard  its  vicinity,  almost  close  to  us;  if 
we  regard  the  high  character  of  its  inhabitants,  most  honora- 
ble ?  It  is  from  Aricia  that  we  have  received  the  Yoconian 
and  Atinian  laws;  from  Aricia  have  come  many  of  those  mag- 
istrates who  have  filled  our  curule  chairs,  both  in  our  fathers' 
recollection  and  in  our  own  ;  from  Aricia  have  sprung  many 
of  the  best  and  bravest  of  the  Roman  knights.  But  if  you  dis- 
approve of  a  wife  from  Aricia,  why  do  you  approve  of  one 
from  Tusculum  ?  Although  the  father  of  this  most  virtuous 
and  excellent  woman,  Marcus  Atius  Balbus,  a  man  of  the  high- 

1  Riddle  (Diet.  Lat.  in  voce)  says,  that  this  was  the  regular  punishment 
for  deserters,  and  was  inflicted  by  their  comrades. 

3  Cnaeus  Octavius,  the  real  father  of  Octavius  Caesar,  had  been  pnctoi 
and  governor  of  Macedonia,  and  whs  intending  to  stand  for  the  consul- 
ship when  he  died. 


354  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

est  character,  was  a  man  of  praetorian  rank ;  but  the  father  of 
your  wife, — a  good  woman,  at  all  events  a  rich  one, — a  fellow 
of  the  name  of  Bambalio,  was  a  man  of  no  account  at  all. 
Nothi  g  could  be  lower  than  he  was,  a  fellow  who  got  his 
surname  as  a  sort  of  insult,  derived1  from  the  hesitation  of 
his  speech  and  the  stolidity  of  his  understanding.  Oh,  but 
your  grandfather  was  nobly  born.  Yes,  he  was  that  Tudita- 
nus  who  used  to  put  on  a  cloak  and  buskins,  and  then  go  and 
scatter  money  from  the  rostra  among  the  people.  I  wish  he 
had  bequeathed  his  contempt  of  money  to  his  descendants ! 
You  have,  indeed,  a  most  glorious  nobility  of  family!  But 
how  does  it  happen  that  the  son  of  a  woman  of  Aricia  ap- 
pears to  you  to  be  ignoble,  when  you  are  accustomed  to  boast 
of  a  descent  on  the  mother's  side  which  is  precisely  the  same?2 
Besides,  what  insanity  is  it  for  that  man  to  say  any  thing 
about  the  want  of  noble  birth  in  men's  wives,  when  his  father 
married  Numitoria  of  Fregellae,  the  daughter  of  a  traitor,  and 
when  he  himself  has  begotten  children  of  the  daughter  of  a 
freedman.  However,  those  illustrious  men  Lucius  Philippus, 
who  has  a  wife  who  came  from  Aricia,  and  Caius  Marcellus, 
whose  wife  is  the  daughter  of  an  Arician,  may  look  to  this ; 
and  I  am  quite  sure  that  they  have  no  regrets  on  the  score  of 
the  dignity  of  those  admirable  women. 

VII.  Moreover,  Antonius  proceeds  to  name  Quint  us  Cice- 
ro, my  brother's  son,  in  his  edict ;  and  is  so  mad  as  not  to  per- 
ceive that  the  way  in  which  he  names  him  is  a  panegyric  on 
him.      For  what  could  happen  more  desirable  for  this  young 
man,  than  to  be  known  by  every  one  to  be  the  partner  of  Caj- 
sar's  counsels^  and  the  enemy  of  the  phrensy  of  Antonius?    Bui 
this  gladiator  has  dared  to  put  in  writing  that  he  had  design- 
ed the  murder  of  his  father  and  of  his  uncle.     Oh  the  marvel- 
ous impudence,  and  audacity,  and  temerity  of  such  an  asser- 
tion !  to  dare  to  put  this  in  writing  against  that  young  man. 
whom  I  and  my  brother,  on  account  of  his  amiable  manners 
and  pure  character,  and  splendid  abilities,  vie  with  one  an- 
other in  loving,  and  to  whom  we  incessantly  devote  our  eyes 
and  ears,  and  affections!     And  as  to  me,  he  does  not  know 
whether  he  is  injuring  or  praising  me  in  those  same  edicts 
When  he  threatens  the  most  virtuous  citizens  with  the  sanul 


1  Bambalio  is  derived  from  the  Greek  word  fiafi^uAu,  to  lisp. 

2  Julia,  the  mother  of  Antonius  and  sister  of  Lucius  Caesar,  was  al* 
a  native  of  Aricia. 


I 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  355 

punishment  which  I  inflicted  on  the  most  wicked  and  infa- 
mous of  men,  he  seems  to  praise  me  as  if  he  were  desirous  of 
copying  me  ;  but  when  he  brings  up  again  the  memory  of  that 
most  illustrious  exploit,  then  he  thinks  that  he  is  exciting  some 
odium  against  me  in  the  breasts  of  men  like  himself. 

VIII.  But  what  is  it  that  he  has  done  himself?  When  he 
had  published  all  these  edicts,  he  issued  another,  that  the  sen- 
ate was  to  meet  in  a  full  house  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  No- 
vember. On  that  day  he  himself  was  not  present.  But  what 
were  the  terms  of  his  edict  1  These,  I  believe,  are  the  exact 
words  of  the  end  of  it :  "  If  any  one  fails  to  attend,  all  men 
will  be  at  liberty  to  think  him  the  adviser  of  my  destruction 
and  of  most  ruinous  counsels."  What  are  ruinous  counsels? 
those  which  relate  to  the  recovery  of  the  liberty  of  the  Roman 
people  ?  Of  those  counsels  I  confess  that  I  have  been  and  still 
am  an  adviser  and  prompter  to  Caesar.  Although  he  did  not 
stand  in  need  of  any  one's  advice ;  but  still  I  spurred  on  the 
willing  horse,  as  it  is  said.  For  what  good  man  would  not 
have  advised  putting  you  to  death,  when  on  your  death  de- 
pended the  safety  and  life  of  every  good  man,  and  the  liberty 
and  dignity  of  the  Roman  people  ? 

But  when  he  had  summoned  us  all  by  so  severe  an  edict, 
why  did  he  not  attend  himself?  Do  you  suppose  that  he  was 
detained  by  any  melancholy  or  important  occasion  1  He  was 
detained  drinking  and  feasting.  If,  indeed,  it  deserves  to  be 
called  a  feast,  and  not  rather  gluttony.  He  neglected  to  at- 
tend on  the  day  mentioned  in  his  edict ;  and  he  adjourned  the 
meeting  to  the  twenty-eighth.  He  then  summoned  us  to  at- 
tend in  the  Capitol ;  and  at  that  temple  he  did  arrive  himself, 
coming  up  through  some  mine  left  by  the  Gauls.  Men  came, 
having  been  summoned,  some  of  them  indeed  men  of  high  dis- 
tinction, but  forgetful  of  what  was  due  to  their  dignity.  For 
the  day  was  such,  the  report  of  the  object  of  the  meeting  such, 
such  too  the  man  who  had  convened  the  senate,  that  it  was 
discreditable  for  a  senate  to  feel  no  fear  for  the  result.  And 
yet  to  those  men  who  had  assembled  he  did  not  dare  to  say  a 
single  word  about  Caesar,  though  he  had  made  up  his  mind1 
to  submit  a  motion  respecting  him  to  the  senate.  There  was 
a  man  of  consular  rank  who  had  brought  a  resolution  ready 

1  He  had  intended  to  propose  to  the  senate  to  declare  Octavius  a  pub- 
lic enemy.  We  must  recollect  that  in  these  orations  Cicero,  even  when 
he  speaks  of  Caius  Caesar,  means  Octavius. 


356  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

drawn  up.  Is  it  not  now  admitting  that  he  is  himself  an  ent 
my,  when  he  does  not  dare  to  make  a  motion  respecting  a  man 
who  is  leading  an  army  against  him  while  he  is  consul  f  For 
it  is  perfectly  plain  that  one  of  the  two  must  be  an  enemy ; 
nor  is  it  possible  to  come  to  a  different  decision  respecting  ad- 
verse generals.  If  then  Caius  Caesar  be  an  enemy,  why  does 
the  consul  submit  no  motion  to  the  senate?  If  he  does  not 
deserve  to  be  branded  by  the  senate,  then  what  can  the  con- 
sul say,  who,  by  his  silence  respecting  him,  has  confessed  that 
he  himself  is  an  enemy1?  In  his  edicts  he  styles  him  Sparta- 
cus,  while  in  the  senate  he  does  not  venture  to  call  him  even 
a  bad  citizen. 

IX.  But  in  the  most  melancholy  circumstances  what  mirth 
does  he  not  provoke?  I  have  committed  to  memory  some 
short  phrases  of  one  edict,  which  he  appears  to  think  partic- 
ularly clever ;  but  I  have  not  as  yet  found  any  one  who  has 
understood  what  he  intended  by  them.  "  That  is  no  insult 
which  a  worthy  man  does."  Now,  in  the  first  place,  what  is 
the  meaning  of  "  worthy  ?"  For  there  are  many  men  worthy 
of  punishment,  as  he  himself  is.  Docs  he  mean  what  a  man 
does  who  is  invested  with  any  dignity  V  if  so,  what  insult  can 
be  greater?  Moreover,  what  is  the  meaning  of  "doing  an 
insult?"  Who  ever  uses  such  an  expression?  Then  comes, 
"Nor  any  fear  which  an  enemy  threatens."  What  then?  is 
fear  usually  threatened  by  a  friend  ?  Then  came  many  simi- 
lar sentences.  Is  it  not  better  to  be  dumb,  than  to  say  what 
no  one  can  understand?  Now  see  why  his  tutor,  exchanging 
pleas  for  plows,  has  had  given  to  hint  in  the  public  domain 
of  the  Roman  people  two  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  Leon- 
tine  district,  exempt  from  all  taxes,  for  making  a  stupid  man 
still  stupider  at  the  public  expense. 

However,  these  perhaps  are  trifling  matters.  I  ask  now, 
why  all  on  a  sudden  he  became  so  gentle  in  the  senate,  after 
having  been  so  fierce  in  his  edicts?  For  what  was  the  object 
of  threatening  Lucius  Cassius,  a  most  fearless  tribune  of  the 
people,  and  a  most  virtuous  and  loyal  citizen,  with  death  if 
he  came  to  the  senate?  of  expelling  Deciinus  Carfulenus,  a 
man  thoroughly  attached  to  the  republic,  from  the  senate  by 
violence  and  threats  of  death?  of  interdicting  Titus  Canutius, 

1  It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  a  proper  idea  of  Cicero's  meaning  here. 
He  is  arguing  on  the  word  d^gnys.  from  which  ckgnitas  is  derived.  But 
we  have  no  means  of  keeping  up  the  play  on  the  words  in  English. 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  357 

by  whom  he  had  been  repeatedly  and  deservedly  harassed  by 
most  legitimate  attacks,  not  only  from  the  temple  itself  but 
from  all  approach  to  it?  What  was  the  resolution  of  the 
senate  which  he  was  afraid  that  they  would  stop  by  the  inter- 
position of  their  veto  %  That,  I  suppose,  respecting  the  sup- 
plication in  honor  of  Marcus  Lepidus,  a  most  illustrious  man  ! 
Certainly  there  was  a  great  danger  of  our  hindering  an  ordi- 
nary compliment  to  a  man  on  whom  we  were  every  day  think- 
ing of  conferring  some  extraordinary  honor.  However,  that 
he  might  not  appear  to  have  had  no  reason  at  all  for  ordering 
the  senate  to  meet,  he  was  on  the  point  of  bringing  forward 
some  motion  about  the  republic,  when  the  news  about  the 
fourth  legion  came  ;  which  entirely  bewildered  him,  and  hast- 
ening to  flee  awav,  he  took  a  division  on  the  resolution  for  de- 
creeing  this  supplication,  though  such  a  proceeding  had  never 
been  heard  of  before.1 

X.  But  what  a  setting  out  was  his  after  this !  what  a  jour- 
ney when  he  was  in  his  robe  as  a  general !  How  did  he  shun 
all  eyes,  and  the  light  of  day,  and  the  city,  and  the  forum ! 
How  miserable  was  his  flight !  how  shameful!  how  infamous! 
Splendid,  too,  were  the  decrees  of  the  senate  passed  on  the 
evening  of  that  very  day ;  very  religiously  solemn  was  the 
allotment  of  the  provinces  ;  and  heavenly  indeed  was  the  op- 
portunity, when  every  one  got  exactly  wdiat  he  thought  most 
desirable.  You  are  acting  admirably,  therefore,  O  tribunes 
of  the  people,  in  bringing  forward  a  motion  about  the  protec- 
tion of  the  senate  and  consuls ;  and  most  deservedly  are  we 
all  bound  to  feel  and  to  prove  to  you  the  greatest  gratitude 
for  your  conduct.  For  how  can  we  be  free  from  fear  and 
danger  while  menaced  by  such  covetousness  and  audacity  1 
And  as  for  that  ruined  and  desperate  man,  what  more  hostile 
decision  can  be  passed  upon  him  than  has  already  been  passed 
by  his  own  friends'?  His  most  intimate  friend,  a  man  con- 
nected with  me  too,  Lucius  Lentulus,  and  also  Publius  Naso, 
a  man  destitute  of  covetousness,  have  shown  that  they  think 
that  they  have  no  provinces  assigned  them,  and  that  the  al- 
lotments of  Antonius  are  invalid.  Lucius  Philippus,  a  man 
thoroughly  worthy  of  his  father  and  grandfather  and  ances- 
tors, has  done  the  same.     The  same  is  the  opinion  of  Marcus 

1  The  general  proceeding  on  such  occasions  being  to  ask  each  senator's 
opinion  separately,  which  gave  those  who  chose  an  opportunity  for  pro- 
nouncing some  encomium  on  the  person  honored. 


358  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Turanius,  a  man  of  the  greatest  integrity  and  purity  of  life. 
The  same  is  the  conduct  of  Publius  Oppius ;  and  those  very 
men, — who,  influenced  by  their  friendship  for  Marcus  Anto- 
nius,  have  attributed  to  him  more  power  than  they  would 
perhaps  really  approve  of, — Marcus  Piso,  my  own  connection, 
a  most  admirable  man  and  virtuous  citizen,  and  Marcus  Ve- 
hilius,  a  man  of  equal  respectability,  have  both  declared  that 
they  would  obey  the  authority  of  the  senate.  Why  should  I 
speak  of  Lucius  China?  whose  extraordinary  integrity,  proved 
under  many  trying  circumstances,  makes  the  glory  of  his  pres- 
ent admirable  conduct  less  remarkable  ;  he  has  altogether  dis- 
regarded the  province  assigned  to  him  ;  and  so  lias  Caius  Ces- 
tius,  a  man  of  great  and  firm  mind. 

Who  are  there  left  then  to  be  delighted  with  this  heaven- 
sent allotment  ?  Lucius  Antonius  and  Marcus  Antonius !  O 
happy  pair !  for  there  is  nothing  that  they  wished  for  more. 
Caius  Antonius  has  Macedonia.  Happy,  too,  is  he !  For  he 
was  constantly  talking  about  this  province.  Caius  Calvisius 
has  Africa.  Nothing  could  be  more  fortunate,  for  he  had 
only  just  departed  from  Africa,  and,  as  if  he  had  divinCd  that 
he  should  return,  he  left  two  lieutenants  at  Utica.  Then 
Marcus  Iccius  has  Sicily,  and  Quintus  Cassius  Spain.  I  do 
not  know  what  to  suspect.  I  fancy  the  lots  which  assigned 
these  two  provinces,  were  not  quite  so  carefully  attended  to 
by  the  gods. 

XI.  O  Caius  Caesar  (I  am  speaking  of  the  young  man), 
what  safety  have  you  brought  to  the  republic !  How  unfore- 
seen has  it  been  !  how  sudden !  for  if  he  did  these  things  when 
flying,  what  would  he  have  done  when  he  was  pursuing?  In 
truth,  he  had  said  in  a  harangue  that  he  would  be  the  guardian 
of  the  city ;  and  that  he  would  keep  his  army  at  the  gates  of 
the  city  till  the  first  of  May.  W'hat  a  fine  guardian  (as  the 
proverb  goes)  is  the  wolf  of  the  sheep  !  Would  Antonius  have 
been  a  guardian  of  the  city,  or  its  plunderer  and  destroyer1? 
And  he  said  too  that  he  would  come  into  the  city  and  go  out 
as  he  pleased.  What  more  need  I  say?  Did  he  not  say,  in 
the  hearing  of  all  the  people,  while  sitting  in  front  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Castor,  that  no  one  should  remain  alive  but  the  con- 
queror? 

On  this  day,  O  conscript  fathers,  for  the  first  time  after  a 
long  interval  do  we  plant  our  foot  and  take  possession  of  liberty. 
Liberty,  of  which,  as  long  as  I  could  be,  I  was  not  only  the 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  359 

defender,  T)ut  even  the  savior.  But  when  I  could  not  be  so, 
I  rested  ;  and  I  bore  the  misfortunes  and  misery  of  that  period 
without  abjeetness,  and  not  without  some  dignity.  But  as  for 
this  most  foul  monster,  who  could  endure  him,  or  how  could 
any  one  endure  him  !  What  is  there  in  Antonius  except  lust, 
and  cruelty,  and  wantonness,  and  audacity1?  Of  these  mate- 
rials he  is  wholly  made  up.  There  is  in  him  nothing  ingen- 
uous, nothing  moderate,  nothing  modest,  nothing  virtuous. 
Wherefore,  since  the  matter  has  come  to  such  a  crisis  that  the 
question  is  whether  he  is  to  make  atonement  to  the  republic 
for  his  crimes,  or  we  are  to  become  slaves,  let  us  at  last,  I  be- 
seech you,  by  the  immortal  gods,  O  conscript  fathers,  adopt 
our  fathers'  courage,  and  our  fathers'  virtue,  so  as  either  to 
recover  the  liberty  belonging  to  the  Roman  name  and  race,  or 
else  to  prefer  death  to  slavery.  We  have  borne  and  endured 
many  things  which  ought  not  to  be  endured  in  a  free  city : 
some  of  us  out  of  a  hope  of  recovering  our  freedom,  some  from 
too  great  a  fondness  for  life.  But  if  we  have  submitted  to 
these  things,  which  necessity  and  a  sort  of  force  which  may 
seem  almost  to  have  been  put  on  us  by  destiny,  have  com- 
pelled us  to  endure  ;  though,  in  point  of  fact,  we  have  not  en- 
dured them  ;  are  we  also  to  bear  with  the  most  shameful  and 
inhuman  tyranny  of  this  profligate  robber  ? 

XII.  What  will  he  do  in  his  passion,  if  ever  he  has  the 
power,  who,  when  he  is  not  able  to  show  his  anger  against 
any  one,  has  been  the  enemy  of  all  good  men  1  What  will  he 
not  dare  to  do  when  victorious,  who,  without  having  gained 
any  victory,  has  committed  such  crimes  as  these  since  the 
death  of  Caesar  %  has  emptied  his  well-filled  house  !  has  pillaged 
his  gardens  ?  has  transferred  to  his  own  mansion  all  their  or- 
naments ?  has  sought  to  make  his  death  a  pretext  for  slaugh- 
ter and  conflagration  ?  who,  while  he  has  carried  two  or  three 
resolutions  of  the  senate  which  have  been  advantageous  to  the 
republic,  has  made  every  thing  else  subservient  to  his  own  ac- 
quisition of  gain  and  plunder?  who  has  put  up  exemptions 
and  annuities  to  sale?  who  has  released  cities  from  obliga- 
tions'? who  has  removed  whole  provinces  from  subjection  to 
the  Roman  empire  ?  who  has  restored  exiles  1  who  has  passed 
forged  laws  in  the  name  of  Caesar,  and  has  continued  to  have 
forged  decrees  engraved  on  brass  and  fixed  up  in  the  Capitol, 
and  has  set  up  in  his  own  house  a  domestic  market  for  all 
things  of  that  sort?  who  has  imposed  laws  on  the  Roman 


360  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


. 


people  ?  and  who,  with  armed  troops  and  guards,  has  exclude' 
both  the  people  and  the  magistrates  from  the  forum?   who  has 
filled  the  senate  with  armed  men  f  and  has  introduced  arme 
men  into  the  temple  of  Concord  when  he  was  holding  a  senat 
there?  who  ran  down  to  Brundusium  to  meet  the  legions,  an 
then   murdered   all   the   centurions   in   them  who  were  wel 
affected  to  the  republic?  who  endeavored  to  come  to  Rome 
with  his  army  to  accomplish  our  massacre  and  the  utter  de- 
struction of  the  city? 

And  he,  now  that  he  has  been  prevented  from  succeeding 
in  this  attempt  by  the  wisdom  and  forces  of  Caesar,  and  the 
unanimity  of  the  veterans,  and  the  valor  of  the  legions,  even 
now  that  his  fortunes  are  desperate,  does  not  diminish  his 
audacity,  nor,  mad  that  he  is,  does  he  cease  proceeding  in  his 
headlong  career  of  fury.  He  is  leading  his  mutilated  army 
into  Gaul ;  with  one  legion,  and  that  too  wavering  in  its 
fidelity  to  him,  he  is  waiting  for  his  brother  Lucius,  as  he  can 
not  find  any  one  more  nearly  like  himself  than  him.  But  now 
what  slaughter  is  this  man,  who  has  thus  become  a  captain 
instead  of  a  matador,  a  general  instead  of  a  gladiator,  making, 
wherever  he  sets  his  foot !  He  destroys  stores,  he  slays  the 
flocks  and  herds,  and  all  the  cattle,  wherever  he  finds  them ; 
his  soldiers  revel  in  their  spoil ;  and  he  himself,  in  order  to 
imitate  his  brother,  drowns  himself  in  wine.  Fields  are  laid 
waste  ;  villas  are  plundered  ;  matrons,  virgins,  well-born  boys 
are  carried  off  and  given  up  to  the  soldiery ;  and  Marcus 
Antonius  has  done  exactly  the  same  wherever  he  has  led  his 
army. 

XIII.  Will  you  open  your  gates  to  these  most  infamous 
brothers?  will  you  ever  admit  them  into  the  city?  will  you 
not  rather,  now  that  the  opportunity  is  offered  to  you,  now 
that  you  have  generals  ready,  and  the  minds  of  the  soldiers 
eager  for  the  service,  and  all  the  Roman  people  unanimous, 
and  all  Italy  excited  with  the  desire  to  recover  its  liberty, — 
will  you  not,  I  say,  avail  yourself  of  the  kindness  of  the  im- 
mortal gods?  You  will  never  have  an  opportunity  if  you 
neglect  this  one.  He  will  be  hemmed  in  in  the  rear,  in  the 
front,  and  in  flank,  if  he  once  enters  Gaul.  Nor  must  he  b< 
attacked  by  arms  alone,  but  by  our  decrees  also.  Mighty  i{ 
the  authority,  mighty  is  the  name  of  the  senate  when  all  it* 
members  arc  inspired  by  one  and  the  same  resolution.  D< 
you  not  see  how  the  forum  is  crowded  ?  how  the  Roman  pea 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC.  361 

pit?  \S  on  tiptoe  with  the  hope  of  recovering  its  liberty?  which 
now,  beholding  us,  after  a  long  interval,  meeting  here  in  num- 
bers, hopes  too  that  we  are  also  met  in  freedom. 

It  was  in  expectation  of  this  day  that  I  avoided  the  wicked 
army  of  Marcus  Antonius,  at  a  time  when  he,  while  inveigh- 
in  o-  against  me,  was  not  aware  for  what  an  occasion  I  was 
reserving  myself  and  my  strength.  If  at  that  time  I  had 
chosen  to  reply  to  him,  while  he  was  seeking  to  begin  the 
massacre  with  me,  I  should  not  now  be  able  to  consult  the 
welfare  of  the  republic.  But  now  that  I  have  this  opportunity, 
I  will  never,  O  conscript  fathers,  neither  by  day  nor  by  night, 
cease  considering  what  ought  to  be  thought  concerning  the 
liberty  of  the  .Roman  people,  and  concerning  your  dignity. 
And  whatever  ought  to  be  planned  or  clone,  I  not  only  will 
never  shrink  from,  but  I  will  offer  myself  for,  ana  beg  to  have 
intrusted  to  me.  This  is  what  I  did  before  while  it  was  in 
my  power;  when  it  was  no  longer  in  my  power  to  do  so,  I 
did  nothing.  But  now  it  is  not  only  in  my  power,  but  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  me,  unless  we  prefer  being  slaves  to 
fighting  with  all  our  strength  and  courage  to  avoid  being 
slaves.  The  immortal  gods  have  given  us  these  protectors, 
Csesar  for  the  city,  Brutus  for  Gaul.  For  if  he  had  been  able 
to  oppress  the  city  we  must  have  become  slaves  at  once ;  if 
he  had  been  able  to  get  possession  of  Gaul,  then  it  would  not 
have  been  long  before  every  good  man  must  have  perished  and 
all  the  rest  have  been  enslaved. 

XIV.  Now  then  that  this  opportunity  is  afforded  to  you,  O 
conscript  fathers,  I  entreat  you  in  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods,  seize  upon  it ;  and  recollect  at  last  that  you  are  the 
chief  men  of  the  most  honorable  council  on  the  whole  face  of 
the  earth.  Give  a  token  to  the  Roman  people  that  your  wis- 
dom shall  not  fail  the  republic,  since  that  too  professes  that 
its. valor  shall  never  desert  it  either.  There  is  no  need  for  my 
warning  you :  there  is  no  one  so  foolish  as  not  to  perceive 
that  if  we  go  to  sleep  over  this  opportunity  we  shall  have  to 
endure  a  tyranny  which  will  be  not  only  cruel  and  haughty, 
but  also  ignominious  and  flagitious.  You  know  the  insolence 
of  Antonius;  you  know  his  friends;  you  know  his  whole 
household.  To  be  slaves  to  lustful,  wanton,  debauched,  profli- 
gate, drunken  gamblers,  is  the  extremity  of  misery  combined 
with  the  extremity  of  infamy.  And  if  now  (but  may  the  im- 
mortal gods  avert  the  omen  !)  that  worst  of  fates  shall  befall 

Q 


j#2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  republic,  then,  as  brave  gladiators  take  care  to  perish  with 
honor,  let  us  too,  who  are  the  chief  men  of  all  countries  and 
nations,  take  care  to  fall  with  dignity  rather  than  to  live  as 
slaves  with  ignominy. 

There  is  nothing  more  detestable  than  disgrace;  nothing 
more  shameful  than  slavery.  We  have  been  born  to  glory 
and  to  liberty  ;  let  us  either  preserve  them  or  die  with  dignity. 
Too  long  have  we  concealed  what  we  have  felt :  now  at  length 
it  is  revealed :  every  one  has  plainly  shown  what  are  his  feel- 
ings to  both  sides,  and  what  are  his  inclinations.  There  are 
impious  citizens,  measured  by  the  love  I  bear  my  country,  too 
many ;  but  in  proportion  to  the  multitude  of  well-affected 
ones,  very  few ;  and  the  immortal  gods  have  given  the  repub- 
lic an  incredible  opportunity  and  chance  for  destroying  them. 
For,  in  addition  to  the  defenses  which  we  already  have,  there 
will  soon  be  added  consuls  of  consummate  prudence,  and  vir- 
tue, and  concord,  who  have  already  deliberated  and  pondered 
for  many  months  on  the  freedom  of  the  Roman  people.  With 
these  men  for  our  advisers  and  leaders,  with  the  gods  assisting 
us,  with  ourselves  using  all  vigilance  and  taking  great  precau- 
tions for  the  future,  and  with  the  Roman  people  acting  with 
unanimity,  we  shall  indeed  be  free  in  a  short  time,  and  the 
recollection  of  our  present  slavery  will  make  liberty  sweeter. 

XV.  Moved  by  these  considerations,  since  the  tribunes  of 
the  people  have  brought  forward  a  motion  to  insure  that  the 
senate  shall  be  able  to  meet  in  safety  on  the  first  of  January, 
and  that  we  may  be  able  to  deliver  our  sentiments  on  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  state  with  freedom,  I  give  my  vote  that 
Caius  Ransa  and  Aulus  Ilirtius,  the  consuls  elect,  do  take  care 
that  the  senate  be  enabled  to  meet  in  safety  on  the  first  of 
January;  and,  as  an  edict  has  been  published  by  Decimus 
Brutus,  imperator  and  consul  elect,  I  vote  that  the  senate 
thinks  that  Decimus  Brutus,  imperator  and  consul,  deserves 
excellently  well  of  the  republic,  inasmuch  as  he  is  upholding 
the  authority  of  the  senate,  and  the  freedom  and  empire  of  the 
Roman  people ;  and  as  he  is  also  retaining  the  province  of 
Gallia  Citerior,  a  province  full  of  most  virtuous  and  brave 
men,  and  of  citizens  most  devoted  to  the  republic,  and  his 
army,  in  obedience  to  the  senate,  I  vote  that  the  senate  judges 
that  he,  and  his  army,  and  the  municipalities  and  colonies  of 
the  province  of  Gaul,  have  acted  and  are  acting  properly,  and 
regularly,  and  in  a  manner  advantageous  to  the  republic     And 


THE  THIRD  PHILIPPIC  363 

the  senate  thinks  that  it  will  be  for  the  general  interests  of 
the  republic  that  the  provinces  which  are  at  present  occupied 
by  Decimus  Brutus  and  by  Lucius  Plancus,  both  imperators, 
and  consuls  elect,  and  also  by  the  officers  who  are  in  command 
of  provinces,  shall  continue  to  be  held  by  them  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  Julian  law,  until  each  of  these  of- 
ficers has  a  successor  appointed  by  a  resolution  of  the  senate ; 
and  that  they  shall  take  care  to  maintain  those  provinces  and 
armies  in  obedience  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome,  and  as  .  t 
a  defense  to  the  republic.  And  since,  by  the  exertions  and 
valor  and  wisdom  of  Caius  Csesar,  and  by  the  admirable  una- 
nimity of  the  veteran  soldiers,  who,  obeying  his  authority,  have 
been  and  are  a  protection  to  the  republic,  the  Roman  people 
has  been  defended,  and  is  at  this  present  time  being  defended, 
from  the  most  serious  dangers.  And  as  the  Martial  legion  has 
encamped  at  Alba,  in  a  municipal  town  of  the  greatest  loy- 
alty and  courage,  and  has  devoted  itself  to  the  support  of  the 
authority  of  the  senate,  and  of  the  freedom  of  the  Roman 
people  ;  and  as  the  fourth  legion,  behaving  with  equal  wisdom 
and  with  the  same  virtue,  under  the  command  of  Lucius  Eg' 
natuleius  the  quaestor,  an  illustrious  citizen,  has  defended  and 
is  still  defending  the  authority  of  the  senate  and  the  freedom 
of  the  Roman  people ;  I  give  my  vote,  That  it  is  and  shall  be 
an  object  of  anxious  care  to  the  senate  to  pay  due  honor  and 
to  show  due  gratitude  to  them  for  their  exceeding  services  to 
the  republic :  and  that  the  senate  hereby  orders  that  when . 
Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius,  the  consuls  elect,  have  en' 
tered  on  their  office,  they  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  con 
suiting  this  body  on  these  matters,  as  shall  seem  to  them  ex- 
pedient for  the  republic,  and  worthy  of  their  own  integrity 
and  loyalty. 


3G4  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


THE   FOURTH  ORATION   OF   M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MAR- 
CUS ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    FOURTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

After  delivering  the  preceding  speech  in  the  senate,  Cicero  proceeded  to 
the  forum,  where  he  delivered  the  following  speech  to  the  people,  to 
give  them  information  of  what  had  been  done. 

I.  The  great  numbers  in  which  you  are  here  met  this  day, 
O  Romans,  and  this  assembly,  greater  than,  it  seems  to  me,  I 
ever  remember,  inspires  me  with  both  an  exceeding  eagerness 
to  defend  the  republic,  and  witb  a  great  hope  of  re-establishing 
it.  Although  my  courage  indeed  has  never  failed  ;  what  has 
been  unfavorable  is  the  time ;  and  the  moment  that  that  has 
appeared  to  show  any  dawn  of  light,  I  at  once  have  been  the 
leader  in  the  defense  of  your  liberty.  And  if  I  had  attempted 
to  have  done  so  before,  I  should  not  be  able  to  do  so  now.  For 
this  day,  O  Romans  (that  you  may  not  think  it  is  but  a  trifling 
business  in  which  we  have  been  engaged),  the  foundations  have 
been  laid  for  future  actions.  For  the  senate  has  no  longer 
been  content  with  styling  Antonius  an  enemy  in  words,  but  it 
has  shown  by  actions  that  it  thinks  him  one.  And  now  I  am 
much  more  elated  still,  because  you  too  with  such  great  una- 
nimity and  with  such  a  clamor  have  sanctioned  our  declaration 
that  he  is  an  enemy. 

And  indeed,  O  Romans,  it  is  impossible  but  that  cither  the 
men  must  be  impious  who  have  levied  armies  against  the  con- 
sul, or  else  that  he  must  be  an  enemy  against  whom  they  have 
rightly  taken  arms.  And  this  doubt  the  senate  has  this  day 
removed — not  indeed  that  there  really  was  any ;  but  it  has 
prevented  the  possibility  of  there  being  any.  Caius  Caesar, 
Avho  has  upheld  and  who  is  still  upholding  the  republic  and 
your  freedom  by  his  zeal  and  wisdom,  and  at  the  expense  of 
his  patrimonial  estate,  has  been  complimented  with  the  high- 
est praises  of  the  senate. 

I  praise  you, — yes,  I  praise  you  greatly,  O  Romans,  when 
you  follow  with  the  most  grateful  minds  the  name  of  that 


THE  FOURTH  PHILIPPIC.  365 

most  illustrious  youth,  or  rather  boy ;  for  his  actions  belong 
to  immortality,  the  name  of  youth  only  to  his  age.  I  can  rec- 
ollect many  things  ;  I  have  heard  of  many  things ;  I  have  read 
of  many  things  ;  but  in  the  whole  history  of  the  whole  world 
I  have  never  known  any  thing  like  this.  For,  when  we  were 
weighed  down  with  slavery,  when  the  evil  was  daily  increas- 
ing^when  we  had  no  defense,  while  we  were  in  dread  of  the 
pernicious  and  fatal  return  of  Marcus  Antonius  from  Brundu- 
sium,  this  young  man  adopted  the  design  which  none  of  us 
had  ventured  to'hope  for,  which  beyond  all  question  none  of 
us  were  acquainted  with,  of  raising  an  invincible  army  of  his 
father's  soldiers,  and  so  hindering  the  phrensy  of  Antonius, 
spurred  on  as  it  was  by  the  most  inhuman  counsels,  from  the 
power  of  doing  mischief  to  the  republic. 

II.  For  who  is  there  who  does  not  see  clearly  that,  if  Cae- 
sar had  not  prepared  an  army,  the  return  of  Antonius  must 
have  been  accompanied  by  our  destruction?  For,  in  truth, 
he  returned  in  such  a  state  of  mind,  burning  with  hatred  of 
you  all,  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  Eoman  citizens,  whom 
he  had  murdered  at  Suessa  and  at  Brundusium,  that  he 
thought  of  nothing  but  the  utter  destruction  of  the  republic. 
And  what  protection  could  have  been  found  for  your  safety 
and  for  your  liberty  if  the  army  of  Caius  Caesar  had  not  been 
composed  of  the  bravest  of  his  father's  soldiers?  And  with 
respect  to  his  praises  and  honors, — and  he  is  entitled  to  divine 
and  everlasting  honors  for  his  godlike  and  undying  services, — 
the  senate  hasjust  consented  to  my  proposals,  and  has  decreed 
that  a  motion  be  submitted  to  it  at  the  very  earliest  opportu- 
nity. 

Now  who  is  there  who  does  not  see  that  by  this  decree  An- 
tonius has  been  adjudged  to  be  an  enemy  ?  For  what  else  can 
we  call  him,  when  the  senate  decides  that  extraordinary  hon- 
ors are  to  be  devised  for  those  men  who  are  leading  armies 
against  him  ?  What  ?  did  not  the  Martial  legion  (which  ap- 
pears to  me  by  some  divine  permission  to  have  derived  its 
name  from  that  god  from  whom  we  have  heard  that  the  Eo- 
man people  descended)  decide  by  its  resolutions  that  Antonius 
was  an  enemy  before  the  senate  had  come  to  any  resolution  ? 
For  if  he  be  not  an  enemy,  we  must  inevitably  decide  that 
those  men  wrho  have  deserted  the  consul  are  enemies.  Admi- 
rably and  seasonably,  O  Eomans,  have  you  by  your  cries  sanc- 
tioned the  noble  conduct  of  the  men  of  the  Martial  legion,  who 


366  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  come  over  to  the  authority  of  the  senate,  to  your  liberty, 
and  to  the  whole  republic ;  and  have  abandoned  that  enemy 
and  robber  and  parricide  of  his  country.  Nor  did  they  dis- 
play only  their  spirit  and  courage  in  doing  this,  but  their  cau- 
tion and  wisdom  also.  They  encamped  at  Alba,  in  a  city  con- 
venient, fortified,  near,  full  of  brave  men  and  loyal  and  virtu- 
ous citizens.  The  fourth  legion  imitating  the  virtue  of  this 
Martial  legion,  under  the  leadership  of  Lucius  Egnatuleius, 
whom  the  senate  deservedly  praised  a  little  while  ago,  has  also 
joined  the  army  of  Caius  Caesar. 

III.  What  more  adverse  decisions,  O  Marcus  Antonius, 
can  you  want  f  Cassar,  who  has  levied  an  army  against  you, 
is  extolled  to  the  skies.  The  legions  are  praised  in  the  most 
complimentary  language,  which  have  abandoned  you,  which 
were  sent  for  into  Italy  by  you  ;  and  which,  if  you  had  chosen 
to  be  a  consul  rather  than  an  enemy,  were  wholly  devoted  to 
you.  And  the  fearless  and  honest  decision  of  those  legions  is 
confirmed  by  the  senate,  is  approved  of  by  the  whole  Roman 
people, — unless,  indeed,  you  to-day,  O  Romans,  decide  that 
Antonius  is  a  consul  and  not  an  enemy.  I  thought,  O  Ro- 
mans, that  you  did  think  as  you  show  you  do.  What  1  do 
you  suppose  that  the  municipal  towns,  and  the  colonies,  and 
the  prefectures  have  any  other  opinion  %  All  men  are  agreed 
with  one  mind;  so  that  every  one  who  wishes  the  state  to  be 
saved  must  take  up  every  sort  of  arms  against  that  pestilence. 
What  %  does,  I  should  like  to  know,  does  the  opinion  of  Deci- 
mus  Brutus,  O  Romans,  which  you  can  gather  from  his  edict, 
which  has  this  day  reached  us,  appear  to  any  one  deserving 
of  being  lightly  esteemed  ?  Rightly  and  truly  do  you  say  No, 
O  Romans.  For  the  family  and  name  of  Brutus  has  been  by 
some  especial  kindness  and  liberality  of  the  immortal  gods 
given  to  the  republic,  for  the  purpose  of  at  one  time  establish- 
ing, and  at  another  of  recovering,  the  liberty  of  the  Roman 
people.  What  then  has  been  the  opinion  which  Decimus 
Brutus  has  formed  of  Marcus  Antonius?  He  excludes  him 
from  his  province.  He  opposes  him  with  his  army.  He 
rouses  all  Gaul  to  war,  which  is  already  roused  of  its  own  ac- 
cord, and  in  consequence  of  the  judgment  which  it  has  itself 
formed.  If  Antonius  be  consul,  Brutus  is  an  enemy.  Can 
wo  then  doubt  which  of  these  alternatives  is  the  fact  \ 

IV.  And  just  as  you  now  with  one  mind  and  one  voice 
affirm  that  you  entertain  no  doubt,  so  did  the  senate  just  now 


THE  FOURTH  PHILIPPIC.  367 

decree  that  Decimus  Brutus  deserved  excellently  well  of  the 
republic,  inasmuch  as  he  was  defending  the  authority  of  the 
senate  and  the  liberty  and  empire  of  the  Roman  people.  De- 
fending it  against  whom  ?  Why,  against  an  enemy.  For 
what  other  sort  of  defense  deserves  praise  ?  In  the  next  place 
the  province  of  Gaul  is  praised,  and  is  deservedly  compli- 
mented in  most  honorable  language  by  the  senate  for  resisting 
Antonius.  But  if  that  province  considered  him  the  consul, 
and  still  refused  to  receive  him,  it  would  be  guilty  of  great 
wickedness.  For  ail  the  provinces  belong  to  the  consul  of 
right,  and  are  bound  to  obey  him.  Decimus  Brutus,  impera- 
tor  and  consul  elect,  a  citizen  born  for  the  republic,  denies 
that  he  is  consul ;  Gaul  denies  it ;  all  Italy  denies  it ;  the 
senate  denies  it ;  you  deny  it.  Who  then  think  that  he  is 
consul  except  a  few  robbers  I  Although  even  they  themselves 
do  not  believe  what  they  say;  nor  is  it  possible  that  they 
should  differ  from  the  judgment  of  all  men,  impious  and  des- 
perate men  though  they  be.  But  the  hope  of  plunder  and 
booty  blinds  their  minds ;  men  whom  no  gifts  of  money,  no 
allotment  of  land,  nor  even  that  interminable  auction  has  sat- 
isfied ;  who  have  proposed  to  themselves  the  city,  the  proper- 
ties and  fortunes  of  all  the  citizens  as  their  booty ;  and  who, 
as  long  as  there  is  something  for  them  to  seize  and  carry  off, 
think  that  nothing  will  be  wanting  to  them ;  among  whom 
Marcus  Antonius  (O  ye  immortal  gods,  avert,  I  pray  you,  and 
efface  this  omen),  has  promised  to  divide  this  city.  May 
things  rather  happen,  O  Romans,  as  you  pray  that  they  should, 
and  may  the  chastisement  of  this  phrensy  fall  on  him  and  on 
his  friend.  And,  indeed,  I  feel  sure  that  it  will  be  so.  For 
I  think  that  at  present  not  only  men  but  the  immortal  gods 
have  all  united  together  to  preserve  this  republic.  For  if  the 
immortal  gods  foreshow  us  the  future,  by  means  of  portents 
and  prodigies,  then  it  has  been  openly  revealed  to  us  that 
punishment  is  near  at  hand  to  him,  and  liberty  to  us.  Or  if 
it  was  impossible  for  such  unanimity  on  the  part  of  all  men  to 
exist  without  the  inspiration  of  the  gods,  in  either  case  how 
can  we  doubt  as  to  the  inclinations  of  the  heavenly  deities  ! 

It  only  remains,  O  Romans,  for  you  to  persevere  in  the  sen- 
timents which  you  at  present  display. 

V.  I  will  act,  therefore,  as  commanders  are  in  the  habit  of 
doing  when  their  army  is  ready  for  battle,  who,  although  they 
see  their  soldiers  ready  to  engage,  still  address  an  exhortation 


368  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

to  them ;  and  in  like  manner  I  will  exhort  you  who  are  al- 
ready eager  and  burning  to  recover  your  liberty.  You  have 
not — you  have  not,  indeed,  O  Romans,  to  war  against  an  en- 
emy with  whom  it  is  possible  to  make  peace  on  any  terms 
whatever.  For  he  does  not  now  desire  your  slavery,  as  he 
did  before,  but  he  is  angry  now  and  thirsts  for  your  blood. 
No  sport  appears  more  delightful  to  him  than  bloodshed,  and 
slaughter,  and  the  massacre  of  citizens  before  his  eyes.  You 
have  not,  O  Romans,  to  deal  with  a  wicked  and  profligate  man, 
but  with  an  unnatural  and  savage  beast.  And,  since  he  has 
fallen  into  a  well,  let  him  be  buried  in  it.  For  if  he  escapes 
out  of  it,  there  will  be  no  inhumanity  of  torture  which  it  will 
be  possible  to  avoid.  But  he  is  at  present  hemmed  in,  press- 
ed, and  besieged  by  those  troops  which  we  already  have,  and 
will  soon  be  still  more  so  by  those  which  in  a  few  days  the 
new  consuls  will  levy.  Apply  yourselves  then  to  this  busi- 
ness, as  you  are  doing.  Never  have  you  shown  greater  una- 
nimity in  any  cause ;  never  have  you  been  so  cordially  united 
with  the  senate.  And  no  wonder.  For  the  question  now  is 
not  in  what  condition  we  are  to  live,  but  whether  we  are  to 
live  at  all,  or  to  perish  with  torture  and  ignominy. 

Although  nature,  indeed,  has  appointed  death  for  all  men : 
but  valor  is  accustomed  to  ward  off  any  cruelty  or  disgrace  in 
death.  And  that  is  an  inalienable  possession  of  the  Roman 
race  and  name.  Preserve,  I  beseech  you,  O  Romans,  this  at- 
tribute which  your  ancestors  have  left  you  as  a  sort  of  inherit- 
ance. Although  all  other  things  are  uncertain,  fleeting,  trans- 
itory ;  virtue  alone  is  planted  firm  with  very  deep  roots ;  it 
can  not  be  undermined  by  any  violence;  it  can  never  be 
moved  from  its  position.  By  it  your  ancestors  first  subdued 
the  whole  of  Italy ;  then  destroyed  Carthage,  overthrew  Nu- 
mantia,  and  reduced  the  most  mighty  kings  and  most  warlike 
nations  under  the  dominion  of  this  empire. 

VI.  And  your  ancestors,  O  Romans,  had  to  deal  with  an 
enemy  who  had  also  a  republic,  a  senate-house,  a  treasury, 
harmonious  and  united  citizens,  and  with  whom,  if  fortune 
had  so  willed  it,  there  might  have  been  peace  and  treaties  on 
settled  principles.  But  this  enemy  of  yours  is  attacking  your 
republic,  but  has  none  himself;  is  eager  to  destroy  the  senate, 
that  is  to  6ay,  the  council  of  the  whole  world,  but  has  no  pub- 
lic council  himself;  he  has  exhausted  your  treasury,  and  has 
none  of  his  own.     For  how  can  a  man  be  supported  by  the 


THE  FOURTH  PHILIPPIC.  369 

unanimity  of  his  citizens,  who  has  no  city  at  all  1  And  what 
principles  of  peace  can  there  be  with  that  man  who  is  full  of 
incredible  cruelty,  and  destitute  of  faith  1 

The  whole  then  of  the  contest,  O  Romans,  which  is  now 
before  the  Roman  people,  the  conqueror  of  all  nations,  is  with 
an  assassin,  a  robber,  a  Spartacus.1  For  as  to  his  habitual 
boast  of  being  like  Catilina,  he  is  equal  to  him  in  wickedness, 
but  inferior  in  energy.  He,  though  he  had  no  army,  rapidly 
levied  one.  This  man  has  lost  that  very  army  which  he  had. 
As,  therefore,  by  my  diligence,  and  the  authority  of  the  senate, 
and  your  own  zeal  and  valor,  you  crushed  Catilina,  so  you 
will  very  soon  hear  that  this  infamous  piratical  enterprise  of 
Antonius  has  been  put  down  by  your  own  perfect  and  unex- 
ampled harmony  with  the  senate,  and  by  the  good  fortune  and 
valor  of  your  .armies  and  generals.  I,  for  my  part,  as  far  as 
I  am  able  to  labor,  and  to  effect  any  thing  by  my  care,  and 
exertions,  and  vigilance,  and  authority,  and  counsel,  will  omit 
nothing  which  I  may  think  serviceable  to  your  liberty.  Nor 
could  I  omit  it  without  wickedness  after  all  your  most  ample 
and  honorable  kindness  to  me.  However,  on  this  day,  en- 
couraged by  the  motion  of  a  most  gallant  man,  and  one  most 
firmly  attached  to  you,  Marcus  Servilius,  whom  you  see  before 
you,  and  his  colleagues  also,  most  distinguished  men,  and  most 
virtuous  citizens ;  and  partly,  too,  by  my  advice  and  my  ex- 
ample, we  have,  for  the  first  time  after  a  long  interval,  fired 
up  again  with  a  hope  of  liberty. 

1  Spartacus  was  the  general  of  the  gladiators  and  slaves  it:  the  Servile 
war. 

Q2 


370  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 


THE  FIFTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MARCUS 

ANTONIUS. 

OTHERWISE   CALLED  THE   FIFTH   PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

The  new  consuls  Hirtius  and  Pansa  were  much  attached  to  Cicero,  had 
consulted  him  a  great  deal,  and  professed  great  respect  for  his  opinion  ; 
but  they  were  also  under  great  obligations  to  Julius  Caesar,  and,  con- 
sequently, connected  to  some  extent  with  his  party  and  with  Antonius  ; 
on  which  account  they  wished,  if  possible,  to  employ  ^noderate  meas- 
ures only  against  him. 

As  soon  as  they  had  entered  on  their  office,  they  convoked  the  senate  to 
meet  for  the  purpose  of  deliberating  on  the  general  welfare  of  the  re- 
public. They  both  spoke  themselves  with  great  firmness,  promising 
to  be  the  leaders  in  defending  the  liberties  of  Rome,  and  exhorting  the 
senate  to  act  with  courage.  And  then  they  called  on  Quintus  Fufius 
Calenus,  who  had  been  consul  a.u.c  707,  and  who  was  Pansa's  father- 
in-law,  to  deliver  his  opinion  first.  He  was  known  to  be  a  firm  friend 
of  Antonius.  Cicero  wished  to  declare  Antonius  a  public  enemy  at 
once  ;  but  Calcnus  proposed,  that  before  they  proceeded  to  acts  of  open 
hostility  against  him,  they  should  send  an  embassy  to  admonish  him  to 
desist  from  his  attempts  upon  Gaul,  and  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
the  senate.  Piso  and  others  supported  this  motion,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  cruel  and  unjust  to  condemn  a  man  without  giving  him  a  fair 
chance  of  submitting,  and  without  hearing  what  he  had  to  say.  It  was 
in  opposition  to  Calenus's  motion  that  Cicero  made  the  following 
speech,  substituting  for  his  proposition  one  to  declare  Antonius  an 
enemy,  and  to  offer  pardon  to  those  of  his  army  who  returned  to  their 
duty  by  the  first  of  February,  to  thank  Decimus  Brutus  for  his  conduct 
in  Gaul,  to  decree  a  statue  to  Marcus  Lepidus1  for  his  services  to  the 
republic  and  his  loyalty,  to  thank  Caius  Caesar  (Octavius)  and  to  grant 
him  a  special  commission  as  general,  to  make  him  a  senator  and  pro- 
praetor, and  to  enable  him  to  stand  for  any  subsequent  magistracy  as 
if  he  had  been  qusestor,  to  thank  Lucius  Egnatuleius,  and  to  vote 
thanks  and  promise  rewards  to  the  Martial  and  the  fourth  legion. 

I.  Nothing,  O  conscript  fathers,  has  ever  seemed  to  me  lon- 
ger than  these  calends  of  January ;   and  I  think  that  for  the 

1  Lepidus  had  not  in  reality  done  any  particular  service  to  the  repub- 
lic (he  was  afterward  one  of  the  triumviri),  but  he  was  at  the  head  of  the 
best  army  in  the  empire;  and  so  was  able  to  be  of  the  most  important 
service  to  either  party,  and,  therefore,  Cicero  hoped  to  attach  him  to  his 
side  by  this  compliment, 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC  371 

last  few  days  you  have  all  been  feeling  the  same  thing.  For 
those  who  are  waging  war  against  the  republic  have  not  wait- 
ed for  this  day.  But  we,  while  it  would  have  been  most  es- 
pecially proper  for  us  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  general  safety 
with  our  counsel,  were  not  summoned  to  the  senate.  How- 
ever, the  speech  just  addressed  to  us  by  the  consuls  has  re- 
moved our  complaints  as  to  what  is  past,  for  they  have  spoken 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  calends  of  January  seem  to  have 
been  long  wished  for  rather  than  really  to  have  arrived  late. 

And  while  the  speeches  of  the  consuls  have  encouraged  my 
mind,  and  have  given  me  a  hope,  not  only  of  preserving  our 
safety,  but  even  of  recovering  our  former  dignity ;  on  the  other 
hand,  the  opinion  of  the  man  who  has  been  asked  for  his  opin- 
ion first  would  have  disturbed  me,  if  I  had  not  confidence  in 
your  virtue  and  firmness.  For  this  day,  O  conscript  fathers, 
has  dawned  upon  you,  and  this  opportunity  has  been  afforded 
you  of  proving  to  the  Eoman  people  how  much  virtue,  how 
much  firmness,  and  how  much  dignity  exists  in  the  counsels 
of  this  order.  Recollect  what  a  day  it  was  thirteen  days  ago ; 
how  great  was  then  your  unanimity,  and  virtue,  and  firmness ; 
and  what  great  praise,  what  great  glory,  and  what  great  grat- 
itude you  earned  from  the  Eoman  people.  And  on  that  day, 
O  conscript  fathers,  you  resolved  that  no  other  alternative 
was  in  your  power,  except  either  an  honorable  peace  or  a  nec- 
essary war. 

Is  Marcus  Antonius  desirous  of  peace  !  Let  him  lay  down 
his  arms,  let  him  implore  our  pardon,  let  him  deprecate  our 
vengeance:  he  will  find  no  one  more  reasonable  than  me; 
though,  while  seeking  to  recommend  himself  to  impious  citi- 
zens, he  has  chosen  to  be  an  enemy  instead  of  a  friend  to  me. 
There  is,  in  truth,  nothing  which  can  be  given  to  him  while 
waging  war ;  there  will  perhaps  be  something  which  may  be 
granted  to  him  if  he  comes  before  us  as  a  suppliant. 

II.  But  to  send  embassadors  to  a  man  respecting  whom 
you  passed  a  most  dignified  and  severe  decision  only  thirteen 
days  ago,  is  not  an  act  of  lenity,  tut,  if  I  am  to  speak  my  real 
opinion,  of  downright  madness.  In  the  first  place,  you  praised 
those  generals  who,  of  their  own  head,  had  undertaken  war 
against  him ;  in  the  next  place,  you  praised  the  veterans  who, 
though  they  had  been  settled  in  those  colonies  by  Antonius, 
preferred  the  liberty  of  the  Eoman  people  to  the  obligations 
which  they  were  under  to  him.     Is  it  not  so  1     Why  was  the 


372  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Martial  legion  ?  why  was  the  fourth  legion  praised  1  For  if 
they  have  deserted  the  consul,  they  ought  to  be  blamed ;  if 
they  have  abandoned  an  enemy  to  the  republic,  then  they  are 
deservedly  praised. 

But  as  at  that  time  you  had  not  yet  got  any  consuls,  you 
passed  a  decree  that  a  motion  concerning  the  rewards  for  the 
soldiers  and  the  honors  to  be  conferred  on  the  generals  should 
be  submitted  to  you  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  Are  you 
then  going  now  to  arrange  rewards  for  those  men  who  have 
taken  arms  against  Antonius,  and  to  send  embassadors  to  An- 
tonius  ?  so  as  to  deserve  to  be  ashamed  that  the  legions  should 
have  come  to  more  honorable  resolutions  than  the  senate :  if, 
indeed,  the  legions  have  resolved  to  defend  the  senate  agaiusfc 
Antonius,  but  the  senate  decrees  to  send  embassadors  to  An- 
tonius. Is  this  encouraging  the  spirit  of  the  soldiers,  or  damp- 
ing their  virtue? 

This  is  what  we  have  gained  in  the  last  twelve  days,  tha" 
the  man  whom  no  single  person  except  Cotyla  was  then  found 
to  defend,  has  now  advocates,  even  of  consular  rank.  Would 
that  they  had  all  been  asked  their  opinion  before  me  (although 
I  have  my  suspicions  as  to  what  some  of  those  men  who  will 
be  asked  after  me,  are  intending  to  say) ;  I  should  find  it  easier 
to  speak  against  them  if  any  argument  appeared  to  have  been 
advanced. 

For  there  is  an  opinion  in  some  quarters,  that  some  one  in- 
tends to  propose  to  decree  Antonius  that  farther  Gaul,  which 
Plancus  is  at  present  in  possession  of.  What  else  is  that  but 
supplying  an  enemy  with  all  the  arms  necessary  for  civil  war : 
first  of  all  with  the  sinews  of  war,  money  in  abundance,  of 
which  he  is  at  present  destitute  ;  and  secondly,  with  as  much 
cavalry  as  he  pleases  ?  Cavalry  do  I  say  ?  He  is  a  likely 
man  to  hesitate,  I  suppose,  to  bring  with  him  the  barbarian 
nations; — a  man  who  does  not  see  this  is  senseless;  he  who 
does  see  it,  and  still  advocates  such  a  measure,  is  impious. 
Will  you  furnish  a  wicked  and  desperate  citizen  with  an  army 
of  Gauls  and  Germans,  withlnoney,  and  infantry,  ami  cavalry, 
and  all  sorts  of  resources  ?  All  these  excuses  arc  no  excuse 
at  all: — "He  is  a  friend  of  mine."  Let  him  first  be  a  friend 
of  his  country  : — "  He  is  a  relation  of  mine."  Can  any  rela- 
tionship be  nearer  than  that  of  one's  country,  in  which  even 
one's  parents  are  comprised?  "He  has  given  me  money:" — 
I  should  like  to  see  the  man  who  will  dare  to  say  that.      Hut 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  373 

when  I  have  explained  what  is  the  real  object  aimed  at,  it 
will  be  easy  for  you  to  decide  which  opinion  you  ought  to 
agree  with  and  adopt. 

III.  The  matter  at  issue  is,  whether  power  is  to  be  given 
to  Marcus  Antonius  of  oppressing  the  republic,  of  massacring 
the  virtuous  citizens,  of  plundering  the  city,  of  distributing 
the  lands  among  his  robbers,  of  overwhelming  the  Roman  peo- 
ple in  slavery ;  or,  whether  he  is  not  to  be  allowed  to  do  all 
this.  Do  you  doubt  what  you  are  to  do?  "  Oh,  but  all  this 
does  not  apply  to  Antonius."  Even  Cotyla  would  not  ven- 
ture to  say  that.  For  what  does  not  apply  to  him  !  A  man 
who,  while  he  says  that  he  is  defending  the  acts  of  another, 
perverts  all  those  laws  of  his  which  we  might  most  properly 
praise.  Caesar  wished  to  drain  the  marshes  :  this  man  has 
given  all  Italy  to  that  moderate  man  Lucius  Antonius  to  dis- 
tribute.— Whatl  has  the  Roman  people  adopted  this  law? 
— What?  could  it  be  passed  with  a  proper  regard  for  the 
auspices?  But  this  conscientious  augur  acts  in  reference  to 
the  auspices  without  his  colleagues.  Although  those  auspices 
do  not  require  any  interpretation ; — for  who  is  there  who  is 
ignorant  that  it  is  impious  to  submit  any  motion  to  the  peo- 
ple while  it  is  thundering  ?  The  tribunes  of  the  people  car- 
ried laws  respecting  the  provinces  in  opposition  to  the  acts  of 
Caesar ;  Caesar  had  extended  the  provisions  of  his  law  over 
two  years ;  Antonius  over  six  years.  Has  then  the  Roman 
people  adopted  this  law  ?  What  ?  was  it  ever  regularly  pro- 
mulgated ?  What  ?  was  it  not  passed  before  it  was  even 
drawn  up  ?  Did  we  not  see  the  deed  done  before  we  even 
suspected  that  it  was  going  to  be  done  !  »  Where  is  the  Caecil- 
ian  and  Didian  law  ?  What  is  become  of  the  law  that  such 
bills  should  be  published  on  three  market-days?  What  is 
become  of  the  penalty  appointed  by  the  recent  Junian  and 
Licinian  law?  Can  these  laws  be  ratified  without  the  de- 
struction of  all  other  laws !  Has  any  one  had  a  right  of 
entering  the  forum?  Moreover,  what  thunder,  and  what  a 
storm  that  was !  so  that  even  if  the  consideration  of  the  aus- 
pices had  no  weight  with  Marcus  Antonius,  it  would  seem 
strange  that  he  could  endure  and  bear  such  exceeding  vio- 
lence of  tempest,  and  rain,  and  whirlwind.  When  therefore 
he,  as  augur,  says  that  he  carried  a  law  while  Jupiter  was  not 
only  thundering,  but  almost  uttering  an  express  prohibition 
of  it  by  his  clamor  from  heaven,  will  he  hesitate  to  confess 


374  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

that  it  was  carried  in  violation  of  the  auspices  V  "What  ?  doe? 
the  virtuous  augur  think  that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
auspices,  that  he  carried  the  law  with  the  aid  of  that  col- 
league whose  election  he  himself  vitiated  by  giving  notice  of 
the  auspices  1 

IV.  But  perhaps  we,  who  are  his  colleagues,  may  be  the 
interpreters  of  the  auspices?     Do  we  also  want  interpreters 
of  arms  ?     In  the  first  place,  all  the  approaches  to  the  forum 
were  so  fenced  round,  that  even  if  no  armed  men  were  stand- 
ing in  the  way,  still  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  enter 
the  forum  except  by  tearing  down  the  barricades.     But  the 
guards  were  arranged  in  such  a  manner,  that,  as  the  access  of 
an  enemy  to  a  city  is  prevented,  so  you  might  in  this  instance 
see  the  burgesses  and  the  tribunes  of  the  people  cut  off  by 
forts  and  works  from  all  entrance  to  the  forum.     On  which 
account  I  give  my  vote  that  those  laws  which  Marcus  Anto- 
nius  is  said  to  have  carried  were  all  carried  by  violence,  and 
in  violation  of  the  auspices ;  and  that  the  people  is  not  bound 
by  them.     If  Marcus  Antonius  is  said  to  have  carried  any 
law  about  confirming  the  acts  of  Caesar  and  abolishing  the 
dictatorship  forever,  and  of  leading  colonies  into  any  lands, 
then  I  vote  that  those  laws  be  passed  over  again,  with  a  due 
regard  to  the  auspices,  so  that  they  may  bind  the  people. 
For  although  they  may  be  good  measures  which  he  passed  ir- 
regularly and  by  violence,  still  they  are  not  to  be  accounted 
laws,  and  the  whole  audacity  of  this  frantic  gladiator  must  be 
repudiated  by  our  authority.     But  that  squandering  of  the 
public  money  can  not  possibly  be  endured  by  which  he  got  rid 
of  seven  hundred  millions  of  sesterces  by  forged  entries  and 
deeds  of  gifts,  so  that  it  seems  an  absolute  miracle  that  so 
vast  a  sum  of  money  belonging  to  the  Roman  people  can  have 
disappeared  in  so  short  a  time.     What?  are  those  enormous 
profits  to  be  endured  which  the  household  of  Marcus  Anto- 
nius has  swallowed  up  ?     He  was  continually  selling  forged 
decrees;    ordering  the  names   of  kingdoms   and   states,  and 
grants  of  exemptions  to  be  engraved  on  brass,  having  received 
bribes  for  such  orders.     And  his  statement  always  was,  that 
he  was  doing  these  things  in  obedience  to  the  memoranda  of 
'  Caesar,  of  which  he  himself  was  the  author.     In  the  interior 
of  his  house  there  was  going  on  a  brisk  market  of  the  whole 
republic.     His  wife,  more  fortunate  for  herself  than  for  her 
husband,  wa*  holding  an  auction  of  kingdoms  and  provinces: 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  375 

exiles  were  restored  without  any  law,  as  if  by  law :  and  un- 
less all  these  acts  are  rescinded  by  the  authority  of  the  sen- 
ate, now  that  we  have  again  arrived  at  a  hope  of  recovering 
the  republic,  there  will  be  no  likeness  of  a  free  city  left  to  us* 

Nor  is  it  only  by  the  sale  of  forged  memoranda  and  auto- 
graphs that  a  countless  sum  of  money  was  collected  together 
in  that  house,  while  Antonius,  whatever  he  sold,  said  that  he 
was  acting  in  obedience  to  the  papers  of  Caesar ;  but  he  even 
took  bribes  to  make  false  entries  of  the  resolutions  of  the  sen- 
ate ;  to  seal  forged  contracts ;  and  resolutions  of  the  senate 
that  had  never  been  passed  were  entered  on  the  records  of 
that  treasury.  Of  all  this  baseness  even  foreign  nations  were 
witnesses.  In  the  mean  time  treaties  were  made ;  kingdoms 
given  away";  nations  and  provinces  released  from  the  burdens 
of  the  state  ;  and  false  memorials  of  all  these  transactions  were 
fixed  up  all  over  the  Capitol,  amid  the  groans  of  the  Eoman 
people.  And  by  all  these  proceedings  so  vast  a  sum  of  money 
was  collected  in  one  house,  that  if  it  were  all  made  available, 
the  Roman  people  would  never  want  money  again. 

V.  Moreover,  he  passed  a  law  to  regulate  judicial  proceed- 
ings, this  chaste  and  upright  man,  this  upholder  of  the  tribu- 
nals and  the  law.  And  in  this  he  deceived  us.  He  used  to 
say  that  he  appointed  men  from  the  front  ranks  of  the  army, 
common  soldiers,  men  of  the  Alauda,1  as  judges.  But  he  has 
in  reality  selected  gamesters;  he  has  selected  exiles;  he  has 
selected  Greeks.  Oh  the  fine  bench  of  judges !  Oh  the  admi- 
rable dignity  of  that  council !  I  do  long  to  plead  in  behalf 
of  some  defendant  before  that  tribunal — Cyda  of  Crete;  a 
prodigy  even  in  that  island  ;  the  most  audacious  and  aban- 
doned of  men.  But  even  suppose  he  were  not  so.  Does  he 
understand  Latin?  Is  he  qualified  by  birth  and  station  to 
be  a  judge!  Does  he — which  is  most  important — does  he 
know  any  thing  about  our  laws  and  manners  ?  Is  he  even 
acquainted  with  any  of  the  citizens'?  Why,  Crete  is  better 
known  to  you  than  Rome  is  to  Cyda.  In  fact,  the  selection 
and  appointment  of  the  judges  has  usually  been  confined  to 
our  own  citizens.  But  who  ever  knew,  or  could  possibly  have 
known  this  Gortynian  judge?  For  Lysiades,  the  Athenian, 
we  most  of  us  do  know.  For  he  is  the  son  of  Phsedrus,  an 
eminent  philosopher.  And,  besides,  he  is  a  witty  man,  so  that 
he  will  be  able  to  get  on  very  well  with  Marcus  Curius,  who 

1  It  has  been  already  explained  that  this  was  the  name  of  one  legion. 


376  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

will  be  one  of  his  colleagues,  and  with  whom  he  is  in  the  habit 
of  playing.  I  ask  if  Lysiades,  when  summoned  as  a  judge, 
should  not  answer  to  his  name,  and  should  have  an  excuse 
alleged  for  him  that  he  is  an  Areopagite,  and  that  he  is  not 
bound  to  act  as  a  judge  at  both  Rome  and  Athens  at  the  same 
time,  will  the  man  who  presides  over  the  investigation  admit 
the  excuse  of  this  Greekling  judge,  at  one  time  a  Greek,  and 
at  another  a  Eoman?  Or  will  he  disregard  the  most  ancient 
laws  of  the  Athenians  ? 

And  what  a  bench  will  it  be,  O  ye  good  gods !  A  Cretan 
judge,  and  he  the  most  worthless  of  men.  Whom  can  a  de- 
fendant employ  to  propitiate  him?  How  is  he  to  get  at 
him?  He  comes  of  a  hard  nation.  But  the  Athenians  are 
merciful.  I  dare  say  that  Curius,  too,  is  not  cruel,  inasmuch 
as  he  is  a  man  who  is  himself  at  the  mercy  of  fortune  every 
day.  There  are  besides  other  chosen  judges  who  will  perhaps 
be  excused.  For  they  have  a  legitimate  excuse,  that  they  have 
left  their  country  in  banishment,  and  that  they  have  not  been 
restored  since.  And  would  that  madman  have  chosen  these 
men  as  judges,  would  he  have  entered  their  names  as  such  in 
the  treasury,  would  he  have  trusted  a  great  portion  of  the  re- 
public to  them,  if  he  had  intended  to  leave  the  least  semblance 
of  a  republic? 

VI.  And  I  have  been  speaking  of  those  judges  who  are 
known.  Those  whom  you  are  less  acquainted  with  I  have 
been  unwilling  to  name.  Know  then  that  dancers,  harp-play- 
ers, the  whole  troop,  in  fact,  of  Antonius's  revelers,  have  all 
been  pitchforked  into  the  third  decury  of  judges.  Now  you 
see  the  object  of  passing  so  splendid  and  admirable  a  law, 
amidst  excessive  rain,  storm,  wind,  tempest,  and  whirlwind, 
amidst  thunder  and  lightning;  it  was  that  he  might  have 
those  men  for  our  judges  whom  no  one  would  like  to  have  for 
guests.  It  is  the  enormity  of  his  wickedness,  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  crimes,  the  plunder  of  that  money  of  which  the 
account  was  kept  in  the  temple  of  Ops,  which  have  been  the 
real  inventors  of  this  third  decury.  And  infamous  judges 
were  not  sought  for,  till  all  hope  of  safety  for  the  guilty  was 
despaired  of,  if  they  came  before  respectable  ones.  But  what 
must  have  been  the  impudence,  what  must  have  been  the  iniq- 
uity of  a  man  who  dared  to  select  those  men  as  judges,  by 
the  selection  of  whom  a  double  disgrace  was  stamped  on  the 
republic :   one,  because  the  judges  were  so  infamous ;   the  other. 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  377 

because  by  this  step  it  was  revealed  and  published  to  the  world 
how  many  infamous  citizens  we  had  in  the  republic?  These 
then,  and  all  other  similar  laws,  I  should  vote  ought  to  be  an- 
nulled, even  if  they  had  been  passed  without  violence,  and  with 
all  proper  respect  for  the  auspices.  But  now  why  need  I  vote 
that  they  ought  to  be  annulled,  when  I  do  not  consider  that 
they  were  ever  legally  passed  ? 

Is  not  this,  too,  to  be  marked  with  the  deepest  ignominy, 
and  with  the  severest  animadversion  of  this  order,  so  as  to  be 
recollected  by  all  posterity,  that  Marcus  Antonius  (the  first 
man  who  has  ever  done  so  since  the  foundation  of  the  cit}') 
has  openly  taken  armed  men  about  with  him  in  this  city  %  A 
thing  which  the  kings  never  did,  nor  those  men  who,  since 
the  kings  have  been  banished,  have  endeavored  to  seize  on 
kingly  power.  I  can  recollect  Cinna ;  I  have  seen  Sylla ; 
and  lately  Ca?sar.  For  these  three  men  are  the  only  ones 
since  the  city  was  delivered  by  Lucius  Brutus,  who  have  had 
more  power  than  the  entire  republic.  I  can  not  assert  that  no 
man  in  their  trains  had  weapons.  This  I  do  say,  that  they 
had  not  many,  and  that  they  concealed  them.  But  this  pest 
was  attended  by  an  army  of  armed  men.  Classitius,  Mus'tela, 
and  Tiro,  openly  displaying  their  swords,  led  troops  of  fellows 
like  themselves  through  the  forum.  Barbarian  archers  occu- 
pied their  regular  place  in  the  army.  And  when  they  arrived 
at  the  temple  of  Concord,  the  steps  were  crowded,  the  litters 
full  of  shields  were  arranged ;  not  because  he  wished  the  shields 
to  be  concealed,  but  that  his  friends  might  not  be  fatigued  by 
carrying  the  shields  themselves. 

VII.  And  what  was  most  infamous  not  only  to  see,  but 
even  to  hear  of,  armed  men,  robbers,  assassins  were  stationed 
in  the  temple  of  Concord ;  the  temple  was  turned  into  a 
prison  ;  the  doors  of  the  temple  were  closed,  and  the  conscript 
fathers  delivered  their  opinions  while  robbers  were  standing 
among  the  benches  of  the  senators.  And  if  I  did  not  come 
to  a  senate-house  in  this  state,  he,  on  the  first  of  September, 
said  that  he  would  send  carpenters  and  pull  down  my  house. 
It  was  an  important  affair,  I  suppose,  that  was  to  be  dis- 
cussed. He  made  some  motion  about  a  supplication.  I  at- 
tended the  day  after.  He  himself  did  not  come.  I  deliv- 
ered my  opinion  about  the  republic,  not  indeed  with  quite  so 
much  freedom  as  usual,  but  still  with  more  than  the  threats 
of  personal  danger  to  myself  made  perhaps  advisable.     But 


378  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

that  violent  and  furious  man  (for  Lucius  Fiso  had  done  the 
same  thing  with  great  credit  thirty  davs  before)  threatened 
me  with  his  enmity,  and  ordered  me  to  attend  the  senate  on 
the  nineteenth  of  September.  In  the  mean  time  he  spent  the 
whole  of  the  intervening  seventeen  days  in  the  villa  of  Scip- 
io,  at  Tibur,  declaiming  against  me  to  make  himself  thirst)-. 
For  this  is  his  usual  object  in  declaiming.  *  When  the  day 
arrived  on  which  he  had  ordered  me  to  attend,  then  he  came 
with  a  regular  army  in  battle  array  to  the  temple  of  Concord, 
and  out  of  his  impure  mouth  vomited  forth  an  oration  against 
me  in  my  absence.  On  which  day,  if  my  friends  had  not 
prevented  me  from  attending  the  senate  as  I  was  anxious  to 
do,  he  would  have  begun  a  massacre  by  the  slaughter  of  me. 
For  that  was  what  he  had  resolved  to  do.  And  when  once 
he  had  dyed  his  sword  in  blood,  nothing  would  have  made 
him  leave  off  but  pure  fatigue  and  satiety.  In  truth,  his 
brother,  Lucius  Antonius,  was  present,  an  Asiatic  gladiator, 
who  had  fought  as  a  Mirmillo,1  at  Mylasa ;  he  was  thirsting 
for  my  blood,  and  had  shed  much  of  his  own  in  that  glad- 
iatorial combat.  He  was  now  valuing  our  property  in  his 
mind,  taking  notice  of  our  possessions  in  the  city  and  in  the 
country ;  his  indigence  united  with  his  covetousness  was  threat- 
ening all  our  fortunes ;  he  was  distributing  our  lands  to  whom- 
soever and  in  whatever  shares  he  pleased ;  no  private  indi- 
vidual could  get  access  to  him,  or  find  any  means  to  pro- 
pitiate him,  and  induce  him  to  act  with  justice.  Every  for- 
mer proprietor  had  just  so  much  property  as  Antonius  left 
him  after  the  division  of  his  estate.  And  although  all  these 
proceedings  can  not  be  ratified,  if  you  annul  his  laws,  still 
I  think  that  they  ought  all  to  be  separately  taken  note  of, 
article  by  article ;  and  that  we  ought  formally  to  decide  that 
the  appointment  of  septemvirs  was  null  and  void;  and  that 
nothing  is  ratified  which  is  said  to  have  been  done  by  them. 

VIII.  But  who  is  there  who  can  consider  Marcus  Anto- 
nius a  citizen,  rather  than  a  most  foul  and  barbarous  enemy, 
who,  while  sitting  in  front  of  the  temple  of  Castor,  in  the 
hearing  of  the  Roman  people,  said  that  no  one  should  survive 
except  those  who  were  victorious?  Do  you  suppose,  O  con- 
script fathers,  that  he  spoke  with  more  violence  than  he  would 
net'?     And  what  are  we  to  think  of  his  having  ventured  to 

1  The  mirmillo  was  the  gladiator  who  fought  with  the  retiarius ;  ho 
Wore  a  Gallic  helmet  with  a  fish  for  a  crest. 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  379 

Say  that,  after  he  had  given  up  his  magistracy,  he  should  still 
be  at  the  city  with  his  army?  that  he  should  enter  the  city 
as  often  as  he  pleased?  What  else  was  this  but  threatening 
the  Eoman  people  with  slavery  ?^  And  what  was  the  object 
of  his  journey  to  Brundusium?  and  of  that  great  haste? 
What  was  his  hope,  except  to  lead  that  vast  army  to  the  city, 
or  rather  into  the  city?  What  a  proceeding  was  that  selec- 
tion of  the  centurions!  What  unbridled  fury  of  an  intem- 
perate mind !  For  when  those  gallant  legions  had  raised  an 
outcry  against  his  promises,  he  ordered  those  centurions  to 
come  to  him  to  his  house,  whom  he  perceived  to  be  loyally 
attached  to  the  republic,  and  then  he  had  them  all  murdered 
before  his  own  eyes  and  those  of  his  wife,  whom  this  noble 
commander  had  taken  with  him  to  the  army.  What  dis- 
position  do  you  suppose  that  this  man  will  display  toward 
us  whom  he  hates,  when  he  was  so  cruel  to  those  men  whom 
he  had  never  seen?  And  how  covetous  will  he  be  with  re- 
spect to  the  money  of  rich  men,  when  he  thirsted  for  even  the 
blood  of  poor  men  ?  whose  property,  such  as  it  was,  he  imme- 
diately divided  among  his  satellites  and  boon  companions. 

And  he  in  a  fury  was  now  moving  his  hostile  standards 
against  his  country  from  Brundusium,  when  Caius  Caesar,  by 
the  kind  inspiration  of  the  immortal  gods,  by  the  greatness 
of  his  own  heavenly  courage,  and  wisdom,  and  genius,  of  his 
own  accord,  indeed,  and  prompted  by  his  own  admirable  vir- 
tue, but  still  with  the  approbation  of  my  authority,  went  down 
to  the  colonies  which  had  been  founded  by  his  father ;  con- 
voked the  veteran  soldiery ;  in  a  few  days  raised  an  army ;  and 
checked  the  furious  advance  of  this  bandit.  But  after  the 
Martial  legion  saw  this  admirable  leader,  it  had  no  other 
thoughts  but  those  of  securing  our  liberty.  And  the  fourth 
legion  followed  its  example. 

IX.  And  Antonius,  on  hearing  of  this  news,  after  he  had 
summoned  the  senate,  and  provided  a  man  of  consular  rank 
to  declare  his  opinion  that  Caius  Caesar  was  an  enemy  of  his 
country,  immediately  fainted  away.  ^  And  afterward,  without 
either  performing  the  usual  sacrifices,  or  offering  the  custom- 
ary vows,  he,  I  will  not  say  went  forth,  but  took  to  flight 
in  his  robe  as  a  general.  But  which  way  did  he  flee  ?  To 
the  province  of  our  most  resolute  and  bravest  citizens ;  men 
who  could  never  have  endured  him  if  he  had  not  come  bring- 
ing war  in    his  train,  an   intemperate,  passionate,  insolert, 


380  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

proud  man,  always  making  demands,  always  plundering,  al- 
ways drunk.  But  he,  whose  worthlessness  even  when  quiet 
was  more  than  any  one  could  endure,  has  declared  war  upon 
the  province  of  Gaul ;  he  is  besieging  Mutina,  a  valiant  and 
splendid  colony  of  the  Roman  people ;  he  is  blockading  Dec- 
imus  Brutus,  the  general,  the  consul  elect,  a  citizen  born  not 
for  himself,  but  for  us  and  the  republic  Was  then  Han- 
nibal an  enemy,  and  is  Antonius  a  citizen?  What  did  the 
one  do  like  an  enemy,  that  the  other  has  not  done,  or  is  not 
doing,  or  planning,  and  thinking  of1?  AVhat  was  there  in  the 
whole  of  the  journey  of  the  Antonii ;  except  depopulation, 
devastation,  slaughter,  and  rapine?  Actions  which  Hannibal 
never  did,  because  he  was  reserving  many  things  for  his  own 
use,  these  men  do,  as  men  who  live  merely  for  the  present 
hour ;  they  never  have  given  a  thought  not  only  to  the  for- 
tunes and  welfare  of  the  citizens,  but  not  even  to  their  own 
advantage. 

Are  we  then,  O  ye  good  gods,  to  resolve  to  send  embassa- 
dors to  this  man?  Are  those  men  who  propose  this  acquaint- 
ed with  the  constitution  of  the  republic,  with  the  laws  of  war, 
with  the  precedents  of  our  ancestors  ?  Do  they  give  a  thought 
to  what  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people  and  the  severity 
of  the  senate  requires?  Do  you  resolve  to  send  embassadors? 
If  to  beg  his  mercy,  he  will  despise  you ;  if  to  declare  your 
commands,  he  will  not  listen  to  them ;  and  last  of  all,  how- 
ever severe  the  message  may  be  which  we  give  the  embassa- 1 
dors,  the  very  name  of  embassadors  will  extinguish  this  ar- 
dor of  the  Roman  people  which  we  see  at  present,  and  break 
the  spirit  of  the  municipal  towns  and  of  Italy.  To  say  no- 
thing of  these  arguments,  though  they  are  weighty,  at  all 
events  that  sending  of  an  embassy  will  cause  delay  and  slow- 
ness to  the  war.  Although  those  who  propose  it  should  say, 
as  I  hear  that  some  intend  to  say, — "Let  the  embassadors 
go,  but  let  war  be  prepared  for  all  the  same."  Still  the  very 
name  of  embassadors  will  damp  men's  courage,  and  delay  the 
rapidity  of  the  war. 

X.  The  most  important  events,  O  conscript  fathers,  are  oft- 
en determined  by, very  trivial  moving  influences  in  every  cir- 
cumstance that  can  happen  in  the  republic,  and  also  in  war, 
and  especially  in  civil  war,  which  is  usually  governed  a  great 
deal  by  men's  opinions  and  by  reports.  ISo  one  will  ask  what 
is  the  commission  with  which  we  have  sent  the  embassadors; 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  381 

the  mere  name  of  an  embassy,  and  that  sent  by  us  of  our 
own  accord,  will  appear  an  indication  of  fear.  Let  him  depart 
from  Mutina ;  let  him  cease  to  attack  Brutus ;  let  him  retire 
from  Gaul.  He  must  not  be  begged  in  words  to  do  so ;  he 
must  be  compelled  by  arms.  For  we  are  not  sending  to  Han- 
nibal to  desire  him  to  retire  from  before  Sa^untum ;  to  whom 
the  senate  formerly  sent  Publius  Valerius  Flaccus  and  Quin- 
tus  Basbius  Tampilus ;  who,  if  Hannibal  did  not  comply,  were 
ordered  to  proceed  to  Carthage.  Whither  do  we  order  our 
embassadors  to  proceed,  if  Antonius  does  not  comply?  Are 
we  sending  an  embassy  to  our  own  citizen,  to  beg  him  not  to 
attack  a  general  and  a  colony  of  the  Roman  people?  Is  it 
so?  Is  it  becoming  to  us  to  beg  this  by  means  of  embassa- 
dors? What  is  the  difference,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods,  whether  he  attacks  this  city  itself,  or  whether  he  attacks 
an  outpost  of  this  city,  a  colony  of  the  Roman  people,  estab- 
lished for  the  sake  of  its  being  a  bulwark  and  protection 
to  us?  The  siege  of  Saguntum  was  the  cause  of  the  second 
Punic  war,  which  Hannibal  carried  on  against  our  ancestors. 
It  was  quite  right  to  send  embassadors  to  him.  They  were 
sent  to  a  Carthaginian,  they  were  sent  on  behalf  of  those  who 
were  the  enemies  of  Hannibal,  and  our  allies.  "What  is  there 
resembling  that  case  here?  We  are  sending  to  one  of  our 
own  citizens  to  beg  him  not  to  blockade  a  general  of  the  Eo- 
man army,  not  to  attack  our  arm}r  and  our  colony, — in  short, 
not  to  be  an  enemy  of  ours.  Come ;  suppose  he  obeys,  shall 
we  either  be  inclined,  or  shall  we  be  able  by  any  possibility,  to 
treat  him  as  one  of  our  citizens  ? 

XL  On  the  nineteenth  of  December,  you  overwhelmed  him 
with  your  decrees ;  you  ordained  that  this  motion  should  be 
submitted  to  you  on  the  first  of  January,  which  you  see  is 
submitted  now,  respecting  the  honors  and  rewards  to  be  con- 
ferred on  those  who  have  deserved  or  do  deserve  well  of  the 
republic.  And  the  chief  of  those  men  you  have  adjudged  to 
be  the  man  who  really  has  done  so,  Caius  Cresar,  who  had 
diverted  the  nefarious  attacks  of  Marcus  Antonius  against  this 
city,  and  compelled  him  to  direct  them  against  Gaul;  and 
next  to  him  you  consider  the  veteran  soldiers  who  first  fol- 
lowed Caesar ;  then  those  excellent  and  heavenly-minded  le- 
gions the  Martial  and  the  fourth,  to  whom  you  Have  promised 
honors  and  rewards,  for  having  not  only  abandoned  their  con- 
sul, but  for  having  even  declared  war  against  him.     And  on 


382  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  same  day,  having  a  decree  brought  before  you  and  pub*, 
lished  on  purpose,  you  praised  the  conduct  of  Decimus  Brutus, 
a  most  excellent  citizen,  and  sanctioned  with  your  public  au- 
thority this  war  which  he  had  undertaken  of  his  own  head. 

What  else,  then,  did  you  do  on  that  day  except  pronounce 
Antonius  a  public  enemy?  After  these  decrees  of  yours,  will 
it  be  possible  for  him  to  look  upon  you  with  equanimity,  or 
for  you  to  behold  him  without  the  most  excessive  indignation? 
He  has  been  excluded  and  cut  off  and  wholly  separated  from 
the  republic,  not  merely  by  his  own  wickedness,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  but  by  some  especial  good  fortune  of  the  republic.  And 
if  he  should  comply  with  the  demands  of  the  embassadors  and 
return  to  Eome,  do  you  suppose  that  abandoned  citizens  will 
ever  be  in  need  of  a  standard  around  which  to  rally?  But 
this  is  not  what  I  am  so  much  afraid  of.  There  are  other 
things  which  I  am  more  apprehensive  of  and  more  alarmed 
at.  He  never  will  comply  with  the  demands  of  the  embassa- 
dors. I  know  the  man's  insanity  and  arrogance  ;  I  know  the 
desperate  counsels  of  his  friends,  to  which  he  is  wholly  given 
up.  Lucius  his  brother,  as  being  a  man  who  has  fought 
abroad,  leads  on  his  household.  Even  suppose  him  to  be  in 
his  senses  himself,  which  he  never  will  be  ;  still  he  will  not  be 
allowed  by  these  men  to  act  as  if  he  were  so.  In  the  mean 
time,  time  will  be  wasted.  The  preparations  for  war  will 
cool.  How  is  it  that  the  war  has  been  protracted  as  long  as 
this,  if  it  be  not  by  procrastination  and  delay  1 

From  the  very  first  moment  after  the  departure,  or  rather 
after  the  hopeless  flight  of  that  bandit,  that  the  senate  could, 
have  met  in  freedom,  I  have  always  been  demanding  that  we 
should  be  called  together.  The  first  day  that  we  were  called 
together,  when  the  consuls  elect  were  not  present,  I  laid,  in 
my  opinion,  amidst  the  greatest  unanimity  on  your  part,  the 
foundations  of  the  republic ;  later,  indeed,  than  they  should 
have  been  laid ;  for  I  could  not  do  so  before ;  but  still  if  no 
time  had  been  lost  after  that  day,  we  should  have  no  war  at 
all  now.  Every  evil  is  easily  crushed  at  its  birth ;  when  it 
has  become  of  long  standing,  it  usually  gets  stronger.  But 
then  every  body  was  waiting  for  the  first  of  January  ;  perhaps 
not  very  wisely. 

XII.  However,  let  us  say  no  more  of  what  is  past.  Are 
we  still  to  allow  any  farther  delay  while  the  embassadors  are 
on  their  road  to  him?  and  while  they  are  coming  back  again  I 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  383 

and  the  time  spent  in  waiting  for  them  will  make  men  doubt 
about  the  war.  And  while  the  fact  of  the  war  is  in  doubt, 
how  can  men  possibly  be  zealous  about  the  levies  for  the 
army  ? 

Wherefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  I  give  my  vote  that  there 
should  be  no  mention  made  of  embassadors.  I  think  that  the 
business  that  is  to  be  done  must  be  done  without  any  delay. 
and  instantly.  I  say  that  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  de- 
cree that  there  is  sedition  abroad,  that  we  should  suspend  the 
regular  courts  of  justice,  order  all  men  to  wear  the  garb  of 
war,  and  enlist  men  in  all  quarters,  suspending  all  exemptions 
from  military  service  in  the  city  and  in  all  Italy,  except  in 
Gaul.  And  if  this  be  done,  the  general  opinion  and  report  of 
your  severity  will  overwhelm  the  insanity  of  that  wicked  glad- 
iator. He  will  feel  that  he  has  undertaken  a  war  against  the 
republic ;  he  will  experience  the  sinews  and  vigor  of  a  unan- 
imous senate.  For  at  present  he  is  constantly  saying  that  it 
is  a  mere  struggle  between  parties.  Between  what  parties? 
One  party  is  defeated  ;  the  other  is  the  heart  of  Caius  Caesar's 
party.  Unless,  indeed,  we  believe  that  the  party  of  Cassar  is 
attacked  by  Pansa  and  Hirtius  the  consuls,  and  by  Caius  Cas- 
par's son.  But  this  war  has  been  kindled,  not  by  a  struggle 
between  parties,  but  by  the  nefarious  hopes  of  the  most  aban- 
doned citizens ;  by  whom  all  our  estates  and  properties  have 
been  marked  down,  and  already  distributed  according  as  every 
one  has  thought  them  desirable. 

I  have  read  the  letter  of  Antonius  which  he  sent  to  one  of 
the  septemviri,  a  thorough-paced  scoundrel,  a  colleague  of  his 
own.  "  Look  out,  and  see  what  you  take  a  fancy  to ;  what 
you  do  fancy  you  shall  certainly  have."  See  to  what  a  man 
we  are  sending  embassadors ;  against  what  a  man  we  are  de- 
laying  to  make  war ;  a  man  who  does  not  even  let  us  draw 
lots  for  our  fortunes,  but  hands  us  over  to  each  man's  caprice 
in  such  a  way,  that  he  has  not  left  even  himself  any  thing  un- 
touched, or  which  has  not  been  promised  to  somebody.  With 
this  man,  O  conscript  fathers,  we  must  wage  war, — war,  I  say, 
and  that  instantly.  We  must  reject  the  slow  proceedings  of 
embassadors. 

Therefore,  that  we  may  not  have  a  number  of  decrees  to 
pass  every  day,  I  give  my  vote  that  the  whole  republic  should 
be  committed  to  the  consuls  ;  and  that  they  should  have  a 
:harge  given  them  to  defend  the  republic,  and  to  take  care 


38-4  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

"that  the  republic  suffer  no  injury."  And  I  give  my  yote 
that  those  men  who  are  in  the  army  of  Antonius  be  not 
visited  with  blame,  if  they  leave  him  before  the  first  of  Feb- 
ruary. 

If  you  adopt  these  proposals  01  mine,  O  conscript  fathers, 
you  will  in  a  short  time  recover  the  liberty  of  the  Eoman 
people  and  your  own  authority.  But  if  you  act  with  more 
mildness,  still  you  will  pass  those  resolutions,  but  perhaps  you 
will  pass  them  too  late.  As  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  re- 
public, on  which  you,  O  consuls,  have  consulted  us,  I  think 
that  I  have  proposed  what  is  sufficient. 

XIII.  The  next  question  is  about  honors.  And  to  this 
point  I  perceive  that  I  must  speak  next.  But  I  will  preserve 
the  same  order  in  paying  respect  to  brave  men,  that  is  usual- 
ly preserved  in  asking  their  opinions. 

Let  us,  therefore,  according  to  the  usages  of  our  ancestors, 
begin  with  Brutus,  the  consul  elect;  and,  to  say  nothing  of 
his  former  conduct, — which  has  indeed  been  most  admirable, 
but  still  such  as  has  been  praised  by  the  individual  judgments 
of  men,  rather  than  by  public  authority, — what  words  can 
we  find  adequate  to  his  praise  at  this  very  time  ?  For  such 
great  virtue  requires  no  reward  except  this  one  of  praise  and 
glory ;  and  even  if  it  were  not  to  receive  that,  still  it  would 
be  content  with  itself,  and  would  rejoice  at  being  laid  up  in 
the  recollection  of  grateful  citizens,  as  if  it  were  placed  in  the 
full  light.  The  praise  then  of  our  deliberate  opinion,  and  of 
our  testimony  in  his  favor,  must  be  given  to  Brutus.  There- 
fore, O  conscript  fathers,  I  give  my  vote  that  a  resolution  of 
the  senate  be  passed  in  these  words : 

"  As  Decimus  Brutus,  imperator,  consul  elect,  is  maintain- 
ing the  province  of  Gaul  in  obedience  to  the  senate  and  peo- 
ple of  Rome ;  and  as  he  has  enlisted  and  collected  in  so  short 
a  time  a  very  numerous  army,  being  aided  by  the  admirable 
zeal  of  the  municipal  towns  and  colonies  of  the  province  of 
Gaul,  which  has  deserved  and  still  does  deserve  admirably 
well  of  the  republic  ;  he  has  acted  rightly  and  virtuously,'  and 
greatly  for  the  advantage  of  the  republic.  And  that  most 
excellent  service  done  by  Decimus  Brutus  to  the  republic,  is 
and  always  will  be  grateful  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Borne. 
Therefore,  the  senate  and  the  Roman  people  is  of  opinion  that 
the  exertions,  and  prudence,  and  virtue  of  Decimus  Brutus, 
imperator  and  consul  elect,  and  the  incredible  zeal  and  una 


iRE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  385 

uiniity  of  the  province  of  Gaul,  have  been  a  great  assistance 
to  the  republic,  at  a  most  critical  time." 

What  honor,  O  conscript  fathers,  can  be  too  great  to  be  due 
to  such  a  mighty  service  as  this  of  Brutus,  and  to  such  im- 
portant aid  as  he  has  afforded  the  republic  !  For  if  Gaul  had 
been  open  to  Marcus  Antonius — if  after  having  overwhelmed 
the  municipal  towns  and  colonies  unprepared  to  resist  him,  he 
had  been  able  to  penetrate  into  that  farther  Gaul — what  great 
danger  would  have  hung  over  the  republic !  That  most  in- 
sane of  men,  that  man  so  headlong  and  furious  in  all  his 
courses,  would  have  been  likely,  I  suppose,  to  hesitate  at  wag- 
ing war  against  us?  not  only  with  his  own  army,  but  with  all 
the  savage  troops  of  barbarism ;  so  that  even  the  wall  of  the 
Alps  would  not  have  enabled  us  to  check  his  phrensy.  These 
thanks  then  will  be  deservedly  paid  to  Decimus  Brutus,  who, 
before  any  authority  of  yours  had  been  interposed,  acting  on 
his  own  judgment  and  responsibility,  refused  to  receive  him 
as  consul,  but  repelled  him  from  Gaul  as  an  enemy,  and  pre- 
ferred to  be  besieged  himself  rather  than  to  allow  this  city  to 
be  so.  Let  him  therefore  have,  by  your  decree,  an  everlasting 
testimony  to  this  most  important  and  glorious  action  ;  and  let 
Gaul,1  which  always  is  and  has  been  a  protection  to  this  em- 
pire and  to  the  general  liberty,  be  deservedly  and  truly  praised 
for  not  having  surrendered  herself  and  her  power  to  Antonius, 
but  for  having  opposed  him  with  them. 

XIV.  And,  fart herm ore,  I  give  my  vote  that  the  most  am. 
pie  honors  be  decreed  to  Marcus  Lepidus,  as  a  reward  for  his 
eminent  services  to  the  republic.  He  has  at  all  times  wished 
the  Roman  people  to  be  free ;  and  he  gave  the  greatest  proof 
of  his  inclination  and  opinion  on  that  day,  when,  while  An. 
tonius  was  placing  the  diadem  on  Caesar's  head,  he  turned  his 
face  away,  and  by  his  groans  and  sorrow  showed  plainly  what 
-a  hatred  of  slavery  he  had,  how  desirous  he  was  for  the  Ro- 
man  people  to  be  free,  and  how  he  had  endured  those  things 
which  he  had  endured,  more  because  of  the  necessity  of  the 
times,  than  because  they  harmonized  with  his  sentiments, 
And  who  of  us  can  forget  with  what  great  moderation  he  be- 
haved during  that  crisis  of  the  city  which  ensued  after  the 
death  of  Cassar  ?     These  are  great  merits ;  but  I  hasten  to 

1  The  English  reader  must  recollect  that  what  is  called  Gaul  in  these 
orations,  is  Cisalpine  Gaul,  containing  what  we  now  call  the  North  (A 
Jtalv.  coming  down  as  far  south  as  Modena  and  Ravenna. 


336  CICERO'S  ORATIONS- 

speak  of  greater  still.  For  (O  ye  immortal  gods !)  what 
could  happen  more  to  be  admired  by  foreign  nations,  or  more 
to  be  desired  by  the  Roman  people,  than,  at  a  time  when  there 
was  a  most  important  civil  wrar,  the  result  of  which  we  were 
all  dreading,  that  it  should  be  extinguished  by  prudence  rather 
than  that  arms  and  violence  should  be  able  to  put  every  thing 
to  the  hazard  of  a  battle?  And  if  Caesar  had  been  guided 
by  the  same  principles  in  that  odious  and  miserable  war,  we 
should  have — to  say  nothing  of  their  father — the  two  sons  of 
Cnaeus  Pompeius,  that  most  illustrious  and  virtuous  man,  safe 
among  us  ;  men  whose  piety  and  filial  affection  certainly  ought 
not  to  have  been  their  ruin.  Would  that  Marcus  Lepidus  had 
been  able  to  save  them  all !  He  showed  that  he  would  have 
done  so,  by  his  conduct  in  cases  where  he  had  the  power ;  when 
he  restored  Sextus  Pompeius  to  the  state,  a  great  ornament  to 
the  republic,  and  a  most  illustrious  monument  of  his  clemen- 
cy. Sad  was  that  picture,  melancholy  was  the  destiny  then 
of  the  Roman  people.  For  after  Pompeius  the  father  was 
dead,  he  who  was  the  light  of  the  Roman  people,  the  son  too, 
who  was  wholly  like  his  father,  was  also  slain.  Put  all  these 
calamities  appear  to  me  to  have  been  effaced  by  the  kindness 
of  the  immortal  gods,  Sextus  Pompeius  being  preserved  to  the 
republic. 

XV.  For  which  cause,  reasonable  and  important  as  it  is, 
and  because  Marcus  Lepidus,  by  his  humanity  and  wisdom, 
has  changed  a  most  dangerous  and  extensive  civil  war  into 
peace  and  concord,  I  give  my  vote,  that  a  resolution  of  the 
senate  be  drawn  up  in  these  words : 

"Since  the  affairs  of  the  republic  have  repeatedly  been  well 
and  prosperously  conducted  by  Marcus  Lepidus,  imperator, 
and  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  since  the  Roman  people  is  fully 
aware  that  kingly  power  is  very  displeasing  to  him  ;  and  sinco 
by  his  exertions,  and  virtue,  and  prudence,  and  singular  clem- 
ency and  humanity,  a  most  bitter  civil  war  has  been  extinguish- 
ed; and  Sextus  Pompeius  Magnus,  the  son  of  Cnaeus,  having 
submitted  to  the  authority  of  this  order  and  laid  down  his  arms, 
and,  in  accordance  with  the  perfect  good-will  of  the  senate 
and  people  of  Rome,  has  been  restored  to  the  state  by  Marcus 
Lepidus,  imperator,  and  Pontifex  Maximus ;  the  senate  and 
people  of  Rome,  in  return  for  the  important  and  numerous 
services  of  Marcus  Lepidus  to  the  republic,  declares  that  it 
places  great  hopes  of  future  tranquillity  and  peace  and  con- 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  387 

cord,  in  his  virtue,  authority,  and  good  fortune  ;  and  the  senate 
and  people  of  Rome  will  ever  remember  his  services  to  the 
republic ;  and  it  is  decreed  by  the  vote  of  this  order,  That  a 
gilt  equestrian  statue  be  erected  to  him  in  the  Rostra,  or  in 
whatever  other  place  in  the  forum  he  pleases." 

And  this  honor,  O  conscript  fathers,  appears  to  me  a  very 
great  one,  in  the  first  place,  because  it  is  just  ; — for  it  is  not 
merely  given  on  account  of  our  hopes  of  the  future,  but  it  is 
paid,  as  it  were,  in  requital  of  his  ample  services  already  done. 
Nor  are  we  able  to  mention  any  instance  of  this  honor  having 
been  conferred  on  any  one  by  the  senate  by  their  own  free  and 
voluntary  judgment  before. 

XVI.  I  come  now  to  Caius  Caesar,  O  conscript  fathers ;  if 
he  had  not  existed,  which  of  us  could  have  been  alive  now  ? 
That  most  intemperate  of  men,  Antonius,  was  flying  from 
Brundusium  to  the  city,  burning  with  hatred,  with  a  disposi- 
tion hostile  to  all  good  men,  with  an  army.  What  wras  there 
to  oppose  to  his  audacity  and  wickedness?  We  had  not  as 
yet  any  generals,  or  any  forces.  There  was  no  public  council, 
no  liberty ;  our  necks  were  at  the  mercy  of  his  nefarious  cru- 
elty ;  we  were  all  preparing  to  have  recourse  to  flight,  though 
flight  itself  had  no  escape  for  us.  Who  was  it — what  god  was 
it,  who  at  that  time  gave  to  the  Roman  people  this  godlike 
young  man,  who,  while  every  means  for  completing  our  de- 
struction seemed  open  to  that  most  pernicious  citizen,  rising 
up  on  a  sudden,  beyond  every  one's  hope,  completed  an  army 
fit  to  oppose  to  the  fury  of  Marcus  Antonius  before  any  one 
suspected  that  he  was  thinking  of  any  such  step  %  Great  hon- 
ors were  paid  to  Cnaeus  Pompeius  when  he  was  a  young  man, 
and  deservedly ;  for  he  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  republic  ; 
but  he  was  of  a  more  vigorous  age,  and  more  calculated  to  meet 
the  eager  requirements  of  soldiers  seeking  a  general.  He  had 
also  been  already  trained  in  other  kinds  of  war.  For  the  cause 
of  Sylla  was  not  agreeable  to  all  men.  The  multitude  of  the 
proscribed,  and  the  enormous  calamities  that  fell  on  so  many 
municipal  towns,  show  this  plainly.  But  Caesar,  though  many 
years  younger,  armed  veterans  who  were  now  eager  to  rest ; 
he  has  embraced  that  cause  which  was  mo^t  agreeable  to  the 
senate,  to  the  people,  to  all  Italy  > — in  short,  to  gods  and  men. 
And  Pompeius  came  as  a  reinforcement  to  the  extensive  com' 
„  mand  and  victorious  army  of  Lucius  Sylla ;  Caesar  had  no 
one  to  join  himself  to.     He,  of  his  own  accord,  was  the  au- 


388  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

thor  and  executor  of  his  plan  of  levying  an  army,  and  array- 
ing a  defense  for  us.  Pompeius  found  the  whole  Picene  dis- 
trict hostile  to  the  party  of  his  adversaries;  but  Caesar  has 
levied  an  army  against  Antonius  from  men  who  were  An- 
tonius's  own  friends,  but  still  greater  friends  to  liberty.  It 
was  owing  to  the  influence  of  Pompeius  that  Sylla  was  en- 
abled to  act  like  a  king.  It  is  by  the  protection  afforded  us 
by  Csesar  that  the  tyranny  of  Antonius  has  been  put  down. 

Let  us  then  confer  on  Caesar  a  regular  military  command, 
without  which  the  military  affairs  can  not  be  directed,  the 
army  can  not  be  held  together,  war  can  not  be  waged.  Let 
him  be  made  propraetor  with  all  the  privileges  which  have 
ever  been  attached  to  that  appointment.  That  honor,  al- 
though it  is  a  great  one  for  a  man  of  his  age,  still  is  not  mere- 
ly of  influence  as  giving  dignity,  but  it  confers  powers  calcu- 
lated to  meet  the  present  emergency.  Therefore,  let  us  seek 
for  honors  for  him  which  we  shall  not  easily  find  at  the  pres- 
ent day. 

XVII.  But  I  hope  that  we  and  the  Roman  people  shall 
often  have  an  opportunity  ofy complimenting  and  honoring 
this  young  man.  But  at  the  present  moment  I  give  my  vote 
that  we  should  pass  a  decree  in  this  form : 

"  As  Caius  Caesar,  the  son  of  Caius,  pontiff  and  propraetor, 
lias  at  a  most  critical  period  of  the  republic  exhorted  the  vet- 
eran soldiers  to  defend  the  liberty  of  the  Roman  people,  and 
has  enlisted  them  in  his  army ;  and  as  the  Martial  legion  and 
the  fourth  legion,  with  great  zeal  for  the  republic,  and  with 
admirable  unanimity,  under  the  guidance  and  authority  of 
Caius  Csesar,  have  defended  and  are  defending  the  republic 
and  the  liberty  of  the  Roman  people  ;  and  as  Caius  Caesar, 
propraetor,  has  gone  with  his  army  as  a  reinforcement  to  the 
province  of  Gaul ;  has  made  cavalry,  and  archers,  and  ele- 
phants, obedient  to  himself  and  to  the  Roman  people,  and 
has,  at  a  most  critical  time  for  the  republic,  come  to  the  aid 
of  the  safety  and  dignity  of  the  Roman  people ;  on  these  ac- 
counts, it  seems  good  to  the  senate  that  Cains  Caesar,  the  son 
of  Caius,  pontiff  and  propraetor,  shall  be  a  senator,  and  shall 
deliver  his  opinions  from  the  bench  occupied  by  men  of  prae- 
torian rank;  and  that,  on  occasion  of  his  offering  himself  for 
any  magistracy,  he  shall  be  considered  of  the  same  legal  stand- 
■  and  qualification  as  if  he  had  been  quaestor  the  preceding 
v.  ar." 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC.  5589 

For  what  reason  can  there  be,  O  conscript  fathers,  why  we 
should  not  wish  him  to  arrive  at  the  highest  honors  at  as 
early  an  age  as  possible  1  For  when,  by  the  laws  fixing  the 
age  at  which  men  might  be  appointed  to  the  different  magis- 
tracies, our  ancestors  fixed  a  more  mature  age  for  the  consul- 
ship, they  were  influenced  by  fears  of  the  precipitation  of 
youth ;  Caius  Caesar,  at  his  first  entrance  into  life,  has  shown 
us  that,  in  the  case  of  his  eminent  and  unparalleled  virtue, 
we  have  no  need  to  wait  for  the  progress  of  age.  Therefore 
our  ancestors,  those  old  men,  in  the  most  ancient  times,  had 
no  laws  regulating  the  age  for  the  different  offices;  it  was 
ambition  which  caused  them  to  be  passed  many  years  after- 
wards, in  order  that  there  might  be  among  men  of  the  same 
age  different  steps  for  arriving  at  honors.  And  it  has  often 
happened  that  a  disposition  of  great  natural  virtue  has  been 
lost  before  it  had  any  opportunity  of  benefiting  the  republic. 
V  But  among  the  ancients,  the  Rulli,  the  Decii,  the  Corvini, 
and  many  others,  and  in  more  modern  times  the  elder  Afri- 
canus  and  Titus  Flaminius  were  made  consuls  very  young, 
and  performed  such  exploits  as  greatly  to  extend  the  empire 
of  the  Roman  people,  and  to  embellish  its  name.  What  more  % 
Did  not  the  Macedonian  Alexander,  having  begun  to  perform 
mighty  deeds  from  his  earliest  youth,  die  when  he  was  only 
in  his  thirty-third  year  1  And  that  age  is  ten  years  less  than 
that  fixed  by  our  laws  for  a  man  to  be  eligible  for  the  consul- 
ship. From  which  it  may  be  plainly  seen  that  the  progress 
of  virtue  is  often  swifter  than  that  of  age. 

XVILL  For  as  to  the  fear  which  those  men,  who  are 
enemies  of  Caesar,  pretend  to  entertain,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  reason  to  apprehend  that  he  will  be  unable  to  re- 
strain and  govern  himself,  or  that  he  will  be  so  elated  by  the 
honors  which  he  receives  from  us  as  to  use  his  power  with- 
out moderation.  It  is  only  natural,  O  conscript  fathers,  that 
the  man  who  has  learned  to  appreciate  real  glory,  and  who 
feels  that  he  is  considered  by  the  senate  and  by  the  Roman 
knights  and  the  whole  Roman  people  a  citizen  who  is  dear 
to,  and  a  blessing  to  the  republic,  should  think  nothing  what- 
ever deserving  of  being  compared  to  this  glory.  Would  that 
it  had  happened  to  Caius  Caesar — the  father,  I  mean — when 
he  was  a  young  man,  to  be  beloved  by  the  senate  and  by 
every  virtuous  citizen ;  but,  having  neglected  to  aim  at  that, 
he  wasted  all  the  power  of  genius  which  he  had  in  a  most 


390  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

brilliant  degree,   in   a  capricious  pursuit   of  popular  favor. 
Therefore,  as  he  had  not  sufficient  respect  for  the  senate  and  • 
the  virtuous  part  of  the  citizens,  he  opened  for  himself  that 
path  for  the  extension  of  his  power,  which  the  virtue  of  a  free 
people  was  unable  to  bear. 

But  the  principles  of  his  son  are  widely  different ;  who  is 
not  only  beloved  by  every  one,  but  in  the  greatest  degree  by 
the  most  virtuous  men.  In  him  is  placed  all  our  hope  of 
liberty ;  from  him  already  has  our  safety  been  received ;  for 
him  the  highest  honors  are  sought  out  and  prepared.  While 
therefore  we  are  admiring  his  singular  prudence,  can  we  at 
the  same  time  fear  his  folly  ?  For  what  can  be  more  foolish 
than  to  prefer  useless  power,  such  influence  as  brings  envy 
in  its  train,  and  a  rash  and  slippery  ambition  of  reigning, 
to  real,  dignified,  solid  glory?  Has  he  seen  this  truth  as  a 
boy,  and  when  he  has  advanced  in  age  will  he  cease  to  see  it  ? 
"  But  he  is  an  enemy  to  some  most  illustrious  and  excellent 
citizens."  That  circumstance  ought  not  to  cause  any  fear. 
Caesar  has  sacrificed  all  those  enmities  to  the  republic ;  he 
had  made  the  republic  his  judge;  he  has  made  her  the  di- 
rectress of  all  his  counsels  and  actions.  For  he  is  come  to 
the  service  of  the  republic  in  order  to  strengthen  her,  not  to 
overturn  her.  I  am  well  acquainted  with  all  the  feelings  of 
the  young  man :  there  is  nothing  dearer  to  him  than  the  re- 
public, nothing  which  he  considers  of  more  weight  than  your 
authority ;  nothing  which  he  desires  more  than  the  approba- 
tion of  virtuous  men  ;  nothing  which  he  accounts  sweeter  than 
genuine  glory. 

Wherefore  you  not  only  ought  not  to  fear  any  thing  from 
him,  but  you  ought  to  expect  greater  and  better  things  still. 
Nor  ought  you  to  apprehend  with  respect  to  a  man  who  has 
already  gone  forward  to  release  Decimus  Brutus  from  a  siege, 
that  the  recollection  of  his  domestic  injury  Mill  dwell  in  his 
bosom,  and  have  more  weight  with  him  than  the  safety  of 
the  city.  I  will  venture  even  to  pledge  my  own  faith,  O  con- 
script fathers,  to  you,  and  to  the  Roman  people,  and  to  the  re- 
public, which  in  truth,  if  no  necessity  compelled  me  to  do  so, 
1  would  not  venture  to  do,  and  in  doing  which  on  slight 
grounds,  I  should  be  afaid  of  giving  rise  to  a  dangerous  opin- 
ion of  my  rashness  in  a  most  important  business ;  but  I  do 
promise,  and  pledge  myself,  and  undertake,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, that  Caius  Caasar  will  always  be  such  a  citizen  as  he  ip 


THE  FIFTH  PHILIPPIC  391 

tTii*  lay,  and  as  we  ought  above  all  things  to  wish  and  desire 
that  he  may  turn  out, 

XIX.  And  as  this  is  the  case,  I  shall  consider  that  I  have 
said  enough  at  present  about  Caesar. 

Nor  do  I  think  that  we  ought  to  pass  over  Lucius  Egnatu- 
leius,  a  most  gallant  and  wise  and  firm  citizen,  and  one  thor- 
oughly attached  to  the  republic,  in  silence;  but  that  we  ought 
to  give  him  our  testimony  to  his  admirable  virtue,  because  it 
was  he  who  led  the  fourth  legion  to  Caesar,  to  be  a  protection 
to  the  consuls,  and  senate,  and  people  of  Rome,  and  the  re- 
public.    And  for  these  acts  I  give  my  vote : 

"That  it  be  made  lawful  for  Lucius  Egnatuleius  to  stand 
for,  and  be  elected  to,  and  discharge  the  duties  of  any  magis- 
tracy, three  years  before  the  legitimate  time." 

And  by  this  motion,  O  conscript  fathers,  Lucius  Egnatu- 
leius does  not  get  so  much  actual  advantage  as  honor.  For 
in  a  case  like  this  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  be  honorably  men- 
tioned. 

But  concerning  the  army  of  Caius  Caesar,  I  give  my  vote 
for  the  passing  of  a  decree  in  this  form : 

"The  senate  decrees  that  the  veteran  soldiers~\ho  have 
defended  and  are  defending  *  *  *  *  of  Caesar,  pontiff  ■ 
and  the  authority  of  this  order,  should,  and  their  children 
after  them,  have  an  exemption  from  military  service.  And 
that  Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius  the  consuls,  one  or  both 
of  them,  as  they  think  fit,  shall  inquire  what  land  there  is  in 
those  colonies  in  which  the  veteran  soldiers  have  been  settled, 
which  is  occupied  in  defiance  of  the  provisions  of  the  Julian 
law,  in  order  that  that  may  be  divided  among  these  veterans. 
That  they  shall  institute  a  separate  inquiry  about  the  Campa- 
nian  district,  and  devise  a  plan  for  increasing  the  advantages 
enjoyed  by  these  veteran  soldiers ;  and  with  respect  to  the 
Martial  legion,  and  to  the  fourth  legion,  and  to  those  soldiers 
of  the  second  and  thirtv-fifth  legion's  who  have  come  over  to 
Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius  the  consuls,  and  have  given 
in  their  names,  because  the  authority  of  the  senate  and  the  lib- 
erty of  the  Roman  people  is  and  .always  has  been  most  dear 
to  them,  the  senate  decrees  that  they  and  their  children  shall 
have  exemption  from  military  service,  except  in  the  case  of 
any  Gallic  and  Italian  sedition  ;  and  decrees  farther,  that  those 
legions  shall  have  their  discharge  when  this  war  is  termin' 
«,nd  that  whatever  sum  of  money  Caius  Caesar,  pontifiV 


392  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

prastor,  has  promised  to  the  soldiers  of  those  legions  individ* 
ually,  shall  be  paid  to  them.  And  that  Caius  Pansa  and  Au- 
lus  Hirtius  the  consuls,  one  or  both  of  them,  as  it  seems  good 
to  them,  shall  make  an  estimate  of  the  land  which  can  be  dis- 
tributed without  injury  to  private  individuals;  and  that  land 
shall  be  given  and  assigned  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Martial  le- 
gion and  of  the  fourth  legion,  in  the  largest  shares  in  which 
land  has  ever  been  given  and  assigned  to  soldiers." 

I  have  now  spoken,  O  consuls,  on  every  point  concerning 
which  you  have  submitted  a  motion  to  us ;  and  if  the  reso- 
lutions which  I  have  proposed  be  decreed  without  delay,  and 
seasonably,  you  will  the  more  easily  prepare  those  measures 
which  the  present  time  and  emergency  demand.  But  instant 
action  is  necessary.  And  if  we  had  adopted  that  earlier,  we 
should,  as  I  have  often  said,  now  have  no  war  at  all. 


THE  SIXTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MARCUS 

ANTONIUS. 

CALLED  ALSO   THE   SIXTH   PHILIPPIC. 
ADDRESSED  TO    THE    PEOPLE. 


THE   ARGUMENT. 

In  respect  of  the  honors  proposed  by  Cicero  in  the  last  speech  the  sen- 
ate agreed  with  him,  voting  to  Octavius  honors  beyond  any  that  Cicero 
had  proposed.  But  they  were  much  divided  about  the  question  of 
sending  an  embassy  to  Antonius  ;  and  the  consuls,  seeing  that  a  ma- 
jority agreed  with  Cicero,  adjourned  the  debate  till  the  next  day.  The 
discussion  lasted  three  days,  and  the  senate  would  at  last  have  adopt- 
ed all  Cicero's  measures,  if  one  of  the  tribunes,  Salvius,  had  not  put 
his  veto  on  them.  So  that  at  last  the  embassy  was  ordered  to  be  sent, 
and  Servius  Sulpicius,  Lucius  Piso,  and  Lucius  Philippus,  appointed 
as  the  embassadors  ;  but  they  were  charged  merely  to  order  Antonius 
to  abandon  the  sie^e  of  Mutina,  and  to  desist  from  hostilities  against 
the  province  of  Gaul ;  and  farther,  to  proceed  to  Decinius  Brutus  in 
Mutina,  and  to  give  him  and  his  army  the  thanks  of  the  senate  and 
people. 

The  length  of  the  debates  roused  the  curiosity  of  the  people,  who,  being 
assembled  in  the  forum  to  learn  the  result,  called  on  Cicero  to  come 
forth  and  give  them  an  account  of  what  had  been  done  ;  on  which  he 
went  to  the  rostra,  accompanied  by  Publius  Appuleius  the  tribune,  «uid 
related  to  them  all  that  had  passed  in  the  following  speech 


THE  SIXTH  PHILIPPIC.  393 

I.  I  imagine  that  you  have  heard,  O  Romans,  what  has  been 
done  in  the  senate,  and  what  has  been  the  opinion  delivered 
by  each  individual.  For  the  matter  which  has  been  in  dis- 
cussion ever  ^ince  the  first  of  January,  has  been  just  brought 
to  a  conclusion ;  with  less  severity  indeed  than  it  ought  to 
have  been,  but  still  in  a  manner  not  altogether  unbecoming. 
The  war  has  been  subjected  to  a  delay,  but  the  cause  has  not 
been  removed.  "Wherefore,  as  to  the  question  which  Publius 
Appuleius — a  man  united  to  me  by  many  kind  offices  and  by 
the  closest  intimacy,  and  firmly  attached  to  your  interests — 
has  asked  me,  I  will  answer  in  such  a  manner  that  you  may 
be  acquainted  with  the  transactions  at  which  you  were  not 
present. 

The  cause  which  prompted  our  most  fearless  and  excellent 
consuls  to  submit  a  motion  on  the  first  of  January,  concern- 
ing the  general  state  of  the  republic,  arose  from  the  decree 
which  the  senate  passed  by  my  advice  on  the  nineteenth  of 
December.  On  that  day,  O  Romans,  were  the  foundations  of 
the  republic  first  laid.  For  then,  after  a  long  interval,  the 
senate  was  free  in  such  a  manner  that  you  too  might  become 
free.  On  which  day,  indeed, — even  if  it  had  been  to  bring  to 
me  the  end  of  my  life, — I  received  a  sufficient  reward  for  my 
exertions,  when  you  all  with  one  heart  and  one  voice  cried 
out  together,  that  the  republic  had  been  a  second  time  saved 
by  me.  Stimulated  by  so  important  and  so  splendid  a  decis- 
ion of  yours  in  my  favor,  I  came  into  the  senate  on  the  first 
of  January,  with  the  feeling  that  I  was  bound  to  show  my  rec- 
ollection of  the  character  which  you  had  imposed  upon  me, 
and  which  I  had  to  sustain. 

Therefore,  when  I  saw  that  a  nefarious  war  was  waged 
against  the  republic,  I  thought  that  no  delay  ought  to  be  in- 
terposed to  our  pursuit  of  Marcus  Antonius ;  and  I  gave  my 
Vote  that  we  ought  to  pursue  with  war  that  most  audacious 
man,  who,  having  committed  many  atrocious  crimes  before, 
was  at  this  moment  attacking  a  general  of  the  Roman  people, 
and  besieging  your  most  faithful  and  gallant  colony  ;  and  that 
a  state  of  civil  war  ought  to  be  proclaimed ;  and  I  said  far- 
ther, that  my  opinion  was  that  a  suspension  of  the  ordinary 
forms  of  justice  should  be  declared,  and  that  the  garb  of  war 
should  be  assumed  by  the  citizens,  in  order  that  all  men  might 
apply  themselves  with  more  activity  and  en^rgv  to  avenging 
the  injuries  of  the  republic,  if  they  saw  th^  a!>  the  emblems 

R2 


394  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

of  a  regular  war  had  been  adopted  by  the  senate.  Therefore, 
this  opinion  of  mine,  O  Romans,  prevailed  so  much  for  three 
days,  that  although  no  division  was  come  to,  still  all,  except 
a  very  few,  appeared  inclined  to  agree  with  me.  But  to-day 
— I  know  not  owing  to  what  circumstance — the  senate  was 
more  indulgent.  For  the  majority  decided  on  our  making  ex- 
periment,  by  means  of  embassadors,  how  much  influence  the 
authority  of  the  senate  and  your  unanimity  will  have  upon 
Antonius. 

II.  I  am  well  aware,  O  Romans,  that  this  decision  is  disap- 
proved of  by  you ;  and  reasonably  too.  For  to  whom  are  we 
sending  embassadors  ?  Is  it  not  to  him  who,  after  having  dis- 
sipated and  squandered  the  public  money,  and  imposed  laws 
on  the  Roman  people  by  violence  and  in  violation  of  the  au- 
spices,— after  having  put  the  assembly  of  the  people  to  flight 
and  besieged  the  senate,  sent  for  the  legions  from  Brundusium 
to  oppress  the  republic?  who,  when  deserted  by  them,  has  in- 
vaded Gaul  with  a  troop  of  banditti?  who  is  attacking  Bru- 
tus? who  is  besieging  Mutina?  How  can  you  offer  conditions 
to,  or  expect  equity  from,  or  send  an  embassy  to,  or,  in  short, 
have  any  thing  in  common  with,  this  gladiator?  although,  O 
Romans,  it  is  not  an  embassy,  but  a  denunciation  of  war  if 
he  does  not  obey.  For  the  decree  has  been  drawn  up  as  if 
embassadors  were  being  sent  to  Hannibal.  For  men  are  sent 
to  order  him  not  to  attack  the  consul  elect,  not  to  besiege  Mu- 
tina, not  to  \a.y  waste  the  province,  not  to  enlist  troops,  but  to 
submit  himself  to  the  power  of  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome. 
No  doubt  he  is  a  likely  man  to  obey  this  injunction,  and  to 
submit  to  the  power  of  the  conscript  fathers  and  to  yours,  who 
has  never  even  had  any  mastery  over  himself.  For  what  has 
he  ever  done  that  showed  any  discretion,  being  always  led 
away  wherever  his  lust,  or  his  levity,  or  his  phrensy,  or  his 
drunkenness  has  hurried  him?  He  has  always  been  under 
the  dominion  of  two  very  dissimilar  classes  of  men,  pimps 
and  robbers ;  he  is  so  fond  of  domestic  adulteries  and  forensic 
murders,  that  he  would  rather  obey  a  most  covetous  woman 
than  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome. 

III.  Therefore,  I  will  do  now  before  you  what  I  have  just 
done  in  the  senate.  I  call  you  to  witness,  I  give  notice.  I  pre- 
dict beforehand,  that  Marcus  Antonius  will  do  nothing  what- 
ever of  those  things  which  the  embassadors  arc  commissioned 
to  command  him  to  do  ;   but  that  he  wi'l  lay  waste  thi>  lands 


THE  SIXTH  PHILIPPIC.  395 

and  besiege  Mutina,  and  enlist  soldiers,  wherever  he  can.  For 
he  is  a  man  who  has  at  all  times  despised  the  judgment  and 
authority  of  the  senate,  and  your  inclinations  and  power.  "Will 
he  do  what  it  has  been  just  now  decreed  that  he  shall  do, — - 
lead  his  army  back  across  the  Rubicon,  which  is  the  frontier 
of  Gaul,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  not  come  nearer  Koine  than 
two  hundred  miles  I  Will  he  obey  this  notice?  will  he  al- 
low himself  to  be  confined  by  the  river  Rubicon,  and  by  the 
limit  of  two  hundred  miles'?  Antonius  is  not  that  sort  of 
man.  For  if  he  had  been,  he  would  never  have  allowed  mat- 
ters to  come  to  such  a  pass,  as  for  the  senate  to  give  him  no- 
tice, as  it  did  to  Hannibal  at  the  beginning;  of  the  Punic  war 
not  to  attack  Saguntum.  But  what  ignominy  it  is  to  be 
called  away  from  Mutina,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  for- 
bidden to  approach  the  city  as  if  he  were  some  fatal  confla- 
gration !  what  an  opinion  is  this  for  the  senate  to  have  of  a 
man  !  What  1  As  to  the  commission  which  is  given  to  the 
embassadors  to  visit  Decimus  Brutus  and  his  soldiers,  and  to 
inform  them  that  their  excellent  zeal  in  behalf  of,  and  ser- 
vices done  to  the  republic,  are  acceptable  to  the  senate  and 
people  of  Rome,  and  that  that  conduct  shall  tend  to  their 
great  glory  and  to  their  great  honor ;  do  you  think  that  An- 
tonius will  permit  the  embassadors  to  enter  Mutina?  and  to 
depart  from  thence  in  safety  ?  He  never  will  allow  it,  believe 
me.  I  know  the  violence  of  the  man,  I  know  his  impudence, 
I  know  his  audacity. 

Nor,  indeed,  ought  we  to  think  of  him  as  of  a  human  being, 
but  as  of  a  most  ill-omened  beast.  And  as  this  is  the  case, 
the  decree  which  the  senate  has  passed  is  not  wholly  improp- 
er. The  embassy  has  some  severity  in  it ;  I  only  wish  it  had 
no  delay.  For  as  in  the  conduct  of  almost  every  affair  slow- 
ness and  procrastination  are  hateful,  so  above  all  things  does 
this  war  require  promptness  of  action.  We  must  assist  I)eci- 
mus  Brutus ;  we  must  collect  all  our  forces  from  all  quarters ; 
we  can  not  lose  a  single  hour  in  effecting;  the  deliverance  of 
such  a  citizen  without  wickedness.  Was  it  not  in  his  power, 
if  he  had  considered  Antonius  a  consul,  and  Gaul  the  province 
of  Antonius,  to  have  given  over  the  legions  and  the  province 
to  Antonius?  and  to  return  home  himself?  and  to  celebrate 
a  triumph?  and  to  be  the  first  man  in  this  body  to  deliver  his 
opinion,  until  he -entered  on  his  magistracy?  What  was  the 
difficulty  of  doing  that?     But  as  he  remembered  that  he  wa* 


°\ 


390  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Brutus,  and  that  he  was  born  for  your  freedom,  not  for  his 
own  tranquillity,  what  else  did  he  do  but — as  I  may  almost 
say — put  his  own  body  in  the  way  to  prevent  Antonius  from 
entering  Gaul  ?  Ought  we  then  to  send  embassadors  to  this 
man,  or  legions?  However,  we  will  say  nothing  of  what  is 
past.  Let  the  embassadors  hasten,  as  I  see  that  they  are  about 
to  do.  Do  you  prepare  your  robes  of  war.  For  it  lias  been 
decreed,  that,  if  he  does  not  obey  the  authority  of  the  senate, 
we  are  aU  to  betake  ourselves  to  our  military  dress.  And  we 
shall  have  to  do  so.  He  will  never  obey.  And  we  shall  la- 
ment that  we  have  lost  so  many  days,  when  we  might  have 
been  doing  something. 

IV.  I  have  no  fear,  O  Romans,  that  when  Antonius  hears 
that  I  have  asserted,  both  in  the  senate  and  in  the  assembly 
of  the  people,  that  he  never  will  submit  himself  to  the  power 
of  the  senate,  he  will,  for  the  sake  of  disproving  my  words, 
and  making  me  to  appear  to  have  had  no  foresight,  alter  his 
behavior  and  obey  the  senate.  He  will  never  do  so.  He 
will  not  grudge  me  this  part  of  my  reputation ;  he  will  prefer 
letting  me  be  thought  wise  by  you  to  being  thought  modest 
himself.  Need  I  say  more  ?  Even  if  he  were  willing  to  do 
so  himself,  do  you  think  that  his  brother  Lucius  would  per- 
mit him  %  It  has  been  reported  that  lately  at_Tibur,  when 
Marcus  Antonius  appeared  to  him  to  be  wavering,  lie,  i^ueius, 
threatened  his  brother  with  death.  And  do  we  suppose  that 
the  orders  of  the  senate,  and  the  words  of  the  embassadors, 
will  be  listened  to  by  this  Asiatic  gladiator?  It  will  be  im- 
possible for  him  to  be  separated  from  a  brother,  especially  from 
one  of  so  much  authority.  For  he  is  another  Africanus  among 
them.  He  is  considered  of  more  influence  than  Lucius  Tre- 
bellius,  of  more  than  Titus  Plancus  *  *  *  a  noble  young  man. 
As  for  Plancus,  who,  having  been  condemned  by  the  unan- 
imous vote  of  every  one,  amid  the  overpowering  applause  of 
you  yourselves,  somehow  or  other  got  mixed  up  in  this  crowd, 
and  returned  with  a  countenance  so  sorrowful,  that  he  appear* 
ed  to  have  been  dragged  back  rather  than  to  have  returned,  he 
despises  him  to  such  degree,  as  if  lie  were  interdicted  from 
fire  and  water.  At  times  he  says  that  that  man  who  set  the 
senate-house  on  fire  has  no  right  to  a  place  in  the  senate-house. 
For  at  this  moment  he  is  exceedingly  in  love  with  Trcbellius. 
He  hated  him  some  time  ago,  when  he.  was  opposing  an  abo- 
lition of  debts  ;   but  now  he  delights  in  him,  ever  since  hi-  has 


THE  SIXTH  PHILIPPIC.  397 

seen  that  Trebcllius  himself  can  not  continue  in  safety  with- 
out an  abolition  of  debts.  For  I  think  that  you  have  heard, 
O  Romans,  what  indeed  you  may  possibly  have  seen,  that  the 
sureties  and  creditors  of  Lucius  Trebcllius  meet  every  day. 
Oh  confidence !  for  I  imagine  that  Trebellius  has  taken  this 
surname;  what  can  be  greater  confidence  than  defrauding 
one's  creditors?  than  flying  from  one's  house1?  than,  because 
of  one's  debts,  being  forced  to  go  to  war?  What  has  become 
of  the  applauses  which  lie  received  on  the  occasion  of  Cesar's 
triumph,  and  often  at  the  games?  Where  is  the  aedileship 
that  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  zealous  efforts  of  all  good 
men?   who  is  there  who  does  not  now  think  that  he  acted 

virtuously  by  accident? 

*      J       *  *  *  *  *  * 

V.  However,  I  return  to  your  love  and  especial  delight,  Lu- 
cius Antonius,  who  has  admitted  you  all  to  swear  allegiance 
to  him.  Do  you  deny  it  ?  is  there  any  one  of  you  who  does 
not  belong  to  a  tribe?  Certainly  not.  But  thirty-five  tribes 
have  adopted  him  for  their  patron.  Do  you  again  cry  out 
against  my  statement?  Look  at  that  gilt  statue  of  him  on 
the  left:  what  is  the  inscription  upon  it?  "The  thirty-five 
tribes  to  their  patron."  Is  then  Lucius  Antonius  the  patron 
of  the  Roman  people  ?  Plague  take  him !  For  I  fully  assent 
to  your  outcry.  I  won't  speak  of  this  bandit  whom  no  one 
would  choose  to  have  for  a  client ;  but  was  there  ever  a  man 
possessed  of  such  influence,  or  illustrious  for  mighty  deeds,  as 
to  dare  to  call  himself  the  patron  of  the  whole  Roman  people, 
the  conqueror  and  master  of  all  nations  ?  We  see  in  the  fo- 
rum a  statue  of  Lucius  Antonius  ;  just  as  we  see  one  of  Quin- 
tus  Tremulus,  who  conquered  the  Hernici,  before  the  temple 
of  Castor.  Oh  the  incredible  impudence  of  the  man  1  Has 
he  assumed  all  this  credit  to  himself,  because  as  a  mirmillo  at 
Mylasa  he  slew  the  Thracian,  his  friend  ?  How  should  we  be 
able  to  endure  him,  if  he  had  fought  in  this  forum  before  the 
eyes  of  you  all?  But,  however,  this  is  but  one  statue.  He 
has  another  erected  by  the  Roman  knights  who  received  horses 
from  the  state  j1  and  they  too  inscribe  on  that,  "  To  their  pa- 

1  After  the  year  b.c.  403,  there  were  two  classes  of  Roman  knights ; 
one  of  which  received  a  horse  from  the  state,  and  were  included  in  the 
eighteen  centuries  of  service  ;  the  other  class,  first  mentioned  by  Livy 
(v  7)  in  the  account  of  the  siege  of  Veii,  served  with  their  own  horses, 
and  instead  of  having  a  horee  found  them,  received  a  certain  pay  (three 


398  CICERO'S  ©RATIONS. 

tron."  Who  was  ever  before  adopted  by  that  order  as  its  pa- 
tron? If  it  ever  adopted  any  one  as  such,  it  ought  to  have 
adopted  me.  What  censor  was  ever  so  honored?  what  im- 
perator?  "But  he  distributed  land  among  them."  Shame 
on  their  sordid  natures  for  accepting  it !  shame  on  his  dishon- 
esty for  giving  it ! 

Moreover,  the  military  tribunes  who  were  in  the  army-  of 
Caesar  have  erected  him  a  statue.  *  *  *  What  order  is  that  ? 
There  have  been  plenty  of  tribunes  in  our  numerous  legions  in 
so  many  years.  Among  them  he  has  distributed  the  lands  of 
Semurium.  The  Campus  Martius  was  all  that  was  left,  if  he 
had  not  first  fled  with  his  brother.  But  this  allotment  of  lands 
was  put  an  end  to  a  little  while  ago,  O  Romans,  by  the  dec- 
laration of  his  opinion  by  Lucius  Caesar,  a  most  illustrious 
man  and  a  most  admirable  senator.  For  we  all  agreed  with 
him  and  annulled  the  acts  of  the  septeisiTirs.  So  all  the  kind, 
ness  of  Nucula1  goes  for  nothing  ;  and  the  patron  Antonius  is 
at  a  discount.  For  those  who  had  taken  possession  will  de- 
part with  more  equanimity.  They  had  not  been  at  any  ex- 
pense ;  they  had  not  yet  furnished  or  stocked  their  domains, 
partly  because  they  did  not  feel  sure  of  their  title,  and  partly 
because  they  had  no  money. 

But  as  for  that  splendid  statue,  concerning  which,  if  the 
times  were  better,  I  could  not  speak  without  laughing,  "To 
Lucius  Antonius,  patron  of  the  middle  of  Janus."2  Is  it  so? 
Is  the  middle  of  Janus  a  client  of  Lucius  Antonius1?  Who 
ever  was  found  in  that  Janus  who  would  have  lent  Lucius 
Antonius  a  thousand  sesterces? 

VI.  However,  we  have  been  spending  too  much  time  in 
trifles.     Let  us  return  to  our  subject  and  to  the  war.     Al- 

tirnes  that  of  the  infantry),  and  were  not  included  in  the  eighteen  cen- 
turies of  service.  The  original  knights,  to  distinguish  them  from  these 
latter,  are  often  called  equitcs  cquo  publico,  sometimes  also  jiexumines  or 
trossuli.      Vide  Smith,  Diet.  Ant.  p.  394-396,  v.  Equites. 

1  He  had  been  one  of  the  septemvirs  appointed  to  preside  over  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  lands. 

3  Janus  was  the  name  of  a  street  near  the  temple  of  Janus,  especially 
frequented  by  bankers  and  usurers.  It  was  divided  into  summits,  meatus, 
and  imus.     Horace  says  : 

Haec  Janus  summus  ab  imo 
Etlocet         *         *         * 
Postquam  omnis  res  mea  Janum 
Ad  medium  fracta  est. 


THE  SIXTH  PHILIPPIC.  399 

though  it  was  not  wholly  foreign  to  the  subject  for  some  char- 
acters to  be  thoroughly  appreciated  by  yOu,  in  order  that  you 
might  in  silence  think  over  who  they  were  against  whom  you 
were  to  wage  war. 

But  I  exhort  you,  O  Romans,  though  perhaps  other  meas .  *  l 
ures  might  have  been  wiser,  still  now  to  wait  with  calmness 
for  the  return  of  the  embassadors.  Promptness  of  action  has 
been  taken  from  our  side ;  but  still  some  good  has  accrued  to 
it.  For  when  the  embassadors  have  reported  what  -they  cer- 
tainly will  report,  that  Antonius  will  not  submit  to  you  nor 
to  the  senate,  who  then  will  be  so  worthless  a  citizen  as  to 
think  him  deserving  of  being  accounted  a  citizen1?  For  at 
present  there  are  men,  few  indeed,  but  still  more  than  there 
ought  to  be,  or  than  the  republic  deserves  that  there  should 
be,"who  speak  in  this  way, — "  Shall  Ave  not  even  wait  for  the 
return  of  the  embassadors'?"  Certainly  the  republic  itself 
will  force  them  to  abandon  that  expression  and  that  pretense 
of  clemency.     On  which  account,  to  confess  the  truth  to  you, 

0  Romans,  I  have  less  striven  to-day,  and  labored  all  the  less 
to-day,  to  induce  the  senate  to  agree  with  me  in  decreeing  the 
existence  of  a  seditious  war,  and  ordering  the  apparel  of  war 
to  be  assumed.  I  preferred  having  my  sentiments  applauded 
by  every  one  in  twenty  days'  time,  to  having  it  blamed  to-day 
by  a  few.  Wherefore,  O  Romans,  wait  now  for  the  return  of 
the  embassadors,  and  devour  your  annoyance  for  a  few  days. 
And  when  they  do  return,  if  they  bring  back  peace,  believe7  7 
me  that  1  have  been  desirous  that  they  should ;  if  they  bring 
back  war,  then  allow  me  the  praise  of  foresight.  Ought  I  not 
to  be  provident  for  the  welfare  of  my  fellow-citizens  ?     Ought 

1  not  day  and  night  to  think  of  your  freedom  and  of  the  safety 
of  the  republic  1  For  what  do  I  not  owe  to  you,  O  Romans, 
since  you  have  preferred  for  all  the  honors  of  the  state  a  man 
who  is  his  own  father  to  the  most  nobly  born  men  in  the  re- 
public ?  Am  I  ungrateful  ?  Who  is  less  so  1  I,  who,  after 
I  had  obtained  those  honors,  have  constantly  labored  in  the 
forum  with  the  same  exertions  as  I  used  while  striving  for 
them.  Am  I  inexperienced  in  state  affairs'?  Who  has  had 
more  practice  than  I,  who  have  now  for  twenty  years  been 
waging  war  against  impious  citizens  ! 

VII.  Wherefore,  O  Romans,  with  all  the  prudence  of  which 
I  am  master,  and  with  almost  more  exertion  than  I  am  ca- 
pable of,  will  I  put  forth  my  vigilance  and   watchfulness  in 


400  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

your  behalf.  In  truth,  what  citizen  is  there,  especially  in 
this  rank  in  which  you  have  placed  me,  so  forgetful  of  your 
kindness,  so  unmindful  of  his  country,  so  hostile  to  his  own 
dignity,  as  not  to  be  roused  and  stimulated  by  your  wonderful 
unanimity !  I,  as  consul,  have  held  many  assemblies  of  the 
people ;  I  have  been  present  at  many  others ;  I  have  never 
once  seen  one  so  numerous  as  this  one  of  yours  now  is.  You 
have  all  one  feeling,  you  have  all  one  desire,  that  of  averting 
the  attempts  of  Marcus  Antonius  from  the  republic,  of  extin- 
guishing his  phrensy  and  crushing  his  audacity.  All  orders 
have  the  same  wish.  The  municipal  towns,  the  colonies,  and 
all  Italy  are  laboring  for  the  same  end.  Therefore  you  have 
made  the  senate,  which  was  already  pretty  firm  of  its  own 
accord,  firmer  still  by  your  authority.  The  time  has  come, 
O  Romans,  later  altogether  than  for  the  honor  of  the  Roman 
people  it  should  have  been,  but  still  so  that  the  things  are 
now  so  ripe  that  they  do  not  admit  of  a  moment's  delay. 
There  has  been  a  sort  of  fatality,  if  I  may  say  so,  which  we 
have  borne  as  it  was  necessary  to  bear  it.  But  hereafter  if 
any  disaster  happens  to  us  it  will  be  of  our  own  seeking.  It 
is  impossible  for  the  Roman  people  to  be  slaves ;  that  people 
whom  the  immortal  gods  have  ordained  should  rule  over  all 
nations.  Matters  are  now  come  to  a  crisis.  We  are  fighting 
for  our  freedom.  Either  you  must  conquer,  O  Romans, 
which  indeed  you  will  do  if  you  continue  to  act  with  such 
piety  and  such  unanimity,  or  you  must  do  any  thing  rather 
than  become  slaves.  Other  nations  can  endure  slavery.  Lib- 
erty is  the  inalienable  possession  of  the  Roman  people 


THE  SEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  401 


THE  SEVENTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MAP 

CUS  ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    SEVENTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 
After  the  senate  had  decided  on  sending  them,  the  embassadors  immedi- 
ately set  out,  though  Servius  Sulpicius  was  in  a  very  bad  state  of 
health.  In  the  mean  time  the  partisans  of  Antonius  in  the  city,  with 
Calenus  at  their  head,  were  endeavoring  to  gain  over  the  rest  of  the 
citizens,  by  representing  him  as  eager  for  an  accommodation  ;  and  they 
kept  up  a  correspondence  with  him,  and  published  such  of  his  letters 
as  they  thought  favorable  for  their  views.  Matters  being  in  this  state, 
Cicero,  at  an  ordinary  meeting  of  the  senate,  made  the  following  speech 
to  counteract  the  machinations  of  this  party,  and  to  warn  the  citizens 
generally  of  the  danger  of  being  deluded  by  them. 

I.  We  are  consulted  to-day  about  matters  of  small  import- 
ance, but  still  perhaps  necessary,  O  conscript  fathers.  The 
consul  submits  a  motion  to  us  about  the  Appian  road,  and 
about  the  coinage ;  the  tribune  of  the  people  one  about  the 
Luperci.  And  although  it  seems  easy  to  settle  such  matters 
as  those,  still  my  mind  can  not  fix  itself  on  such  subjects, 
beino-  anxious  about  more  important  matters.  For  our  af- 
fairs, O  conscript  fathers,  are  come  to  a  crisis,  and  are  in  a 
state  of  almost  extreme  danger.  It  is  not  without  reason 
that  I  have  always  feared,  and  never  approved  of  that  send- 
ing of  embassadors.  And  what  their  return  is  to  bring  us  I 
know  not;  but  who  is  there  who  does  not  see  with  how 
much  languor  the  expectation  of  it  infects  our  minds?  For 
those  men  put  no  restraint  on  themselves  who  grieve  that 
the  senate  has  revived  so  as  to  entertain  hopes  of  its  former 
authority,  and  that  the  Roman  people  is  united  to  this  our 
order;  that  all  Italy  is  animated  by  one  common  feeling; 
that  armies  are  prepared,  and  generals  ready  for  the  armies ; 
even  already  they  are  inventing  replies  for  Antonius,  and 
defending  them.  Some  pretend  that  his  demand  is  that  all 
the  armies  be  disbanded.  I  suppose  then  we  sent  embas- 
sadors to  him,  not  that  he  should  submit  and  obey  this  our 
body,  but  that  he  should  offer  us  conditions,  impose  laws 
upon  us,  order   us   to   open  Italy  to   foreign  nations;   espe- 


402  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

cially  while  we  were  to  leave  him  in  safety  from  whom  there 
is  more  danger  to  be  feared  than  from  any  nation  whatever. 
Others  say  that  he  is  willing  to  give  up  the  nearer  Gaul  to 
us,  and  that  he  will  be  satisfied  with  the  farther  Gaul.  Very 
kind  of  him !  in  order  that  from  thence  he  may  endeavor 
to  bring  not  merely  legions,  but  even  nations  against  this 
city.  Others  say  that  he  makes  no  demands  now  but  such 
as  are  quite  moderate.  Macedonia  he  calls  absolutely  I  is 
own,  since  it  was  from  thence  that  his  brother  Caius  was  n  - 
called.  But  what  province  is  there  in  which  that  fire-brand 
may  not  kindle  a  conflagration  ?  Therefore  those  same  men, 
like  provident  citizens  and  diligent  senators,  say  that  I  have 
sounded  the  charge,  and  they  undertake  the  advocacy  of 
peace.  Is  not  this  the  way  in  which  they  argue?  "Anto- 
nius  ought  not  to  have  been  irritated ;  he  is  a  reckless  and  a 
bold  man ;  there  are  many  bad  men  besides  him."  (No 
doubt,  and  they  may  begin  and  count  themselves  first.)  And 
they  warn  us  to  be  on  our  guard  against  them.  Which 
conduct  then  is  it  which  shows  the  more  prudent  caution ; 
chastising  wicked  citizens  when  one  is  able  to  do  so,  or  fear- 
ing them? 

II.  And  these  men  speak  in  this  way,  who  on  account  of 
their  trifling  disposition  used  to  be  considered  friends  of  the 
people.  From  which  it  may  be  understood  that  they  in 
their  hearts  have  at  all  times  been  disinclined  to  a  good  con- 
stitution of  the  state,  and  they  were  not  friends  of  the  people 
from  inclination.  For  how  comes  it  to  pass  that  those  men 
who  were  anxious  to  gratify  the  people  in  evil  things,  now, 
on  an  occasion  which  above  all  others  concerns  the  people's 
interests,  because  the  same  thing  would  be  also  salutary  for 
the  republic,  now  prefer  being  wicked  to  being  friends  of  the 
people  ?  This  noble  cause  of  which  I  am  the  advocate  has 
made  me  popular,  a  man  who  (as  you  know)  have  always 
opposed  the  rashness  of  the  people.  And  those  men  are 
called,  or  rather  they  call  themselves,  consulars ;  though  no 
man  is  worthy  of  that  name  except  those  who  can  support 
so  high  an  honor.  Will  you  favor  an  enemy  !  Will  you 
}let  him  send  you  letters  about  his  hopes  of  success  ?  Will 
you  be  glad  to  produce  them?  to  read  them?  Will  you 
even  give  them  to  wicked  citizens  to  take  copies  ot "1  Will 
you  thus  raise  their  courage?  Will  you  thus  dam])  the  hopes 
and  valor  of  the  good?     And  then  will  you  think  yourself 


THE  SEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  403 

a  consular,  or  a  senator,  or  even  a  citizen  ?  Caius  Pansa, 
a  most  fearless  and  virtuous  consul,  will  take  what  I  say  in 
good  part.  For  I  will  speak  with  a  disposition  most  friend- 
ly to  him ;  but  I  should  not  consider  him  himself  a  consul, 
though  a  man  with  whom  I  am  most  intimate,  unless  he  Mas 
such  a  consul  as  to  devote  all  his  vigilance,  and  cares,  and 
thoughts  to  the  safety  of  the  republic. 

Although  long  acquaintance,  and  habit,  and  a  fellowship 
and  resemblance  in  the  most  honorable  pursuits,  has  bound 
us  together  from  his  first  entrance  into  life ;  and  his  incredi- 
ble diligence,  proved  at  the  time  of  the  most  formidable  dan- 
gers of  the  civil  war,  showed  that  he  was  a  favorer  not  only 
of  my  safety,  but  also  of  my  dignity ;  still,  as  I  said  before,  if 
he  were  not  such  a  consul  as  I  have  described,  I  should  ven- 
ture to  deny  that  he  was  a  consul  at  all.  But  now  I  call  him 
not  only  a  consul,  but  the  most  excellent  and  virtuous  consul 
within  my  recollection ;  not  but  that  there  have  been  others 
of  equal  virtue  and  equal  inclination,  but  still  they  have  not 
had  an  equal  opportunity  of  displaying  that  virtue  and  incli- 
nation. But  the  opportunity  of  a  time  of  most  formidable 
change  has  been  afforded  to  his  magnanimity,  and  dignity,  and 
wisdom.  And  that  is  the  time  when  the  consulship  is  dis- 
played to  the  greatest  advantage,  when  it  governs  the  repub- 
lic during  a  time  which,  if  not  desirable,  is  at  all  events  crit- 
ical and  momentous.  And  a  more  critical  time  than  the  pres- 
ent, O  conscript  fathers,  never  was. 

III.  Therefore  I,  who  have  been  at  all  times  an  adviser  of 
peace,  and  who,  though  all  good  men  always  considered  peace, 
and  especially  internal  peace,  desirable,  have  desired  it  more 
than  all  of  them  ; — for  the  whole  of  the  career  of  my  industry 
has  been  passed  in  the  forum  and  in  the  senate-house,  and  in 
warding  off  dangers  from  my  friends  ;  it  is  by  this  course  that 
I  have  arrived  at  the  highest  honors,  at  moderate  wealth,  and 
at  any  dignity  which  we  may  be  thought  to  have  :  I  therefore, 
a  nursling  of  peace,  as  I  may  call  myself,  I  who,  whatever  I 
am  (for  I  arrogate  nothing  to  myself),  should  undoubtedly  not 
have  been  such  without  internal  peace :  I  am  speaking  in  peril : 
I  shudder  to  think  how  you  will  receive  it,  O  conscript  fathers; 
but  still,  out  of  regard  for  my  unceasing  desire  to  support  and 
increase  your  dignity,  I  beg  and  entreat  you,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, although  it  may  be  a  bitter  thing  to  hear,  or  an  incred- 
ible thing  that  it  should  be  said  by  Marcus  Cicero,  still  to  re- 


404  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ceive  at  first,  without  offense,  what  I  am  going  to  say,  and  not 
to  reject  it  before  I  have  fully  explained  what  it  is ; — I,  who, 
I  will  say  so  over  and  over  again,  have  always  been  a  pane- 
gyrist, have  always  been  an  adviser  of  peace,  do  not  wish  to 
have  peace  with  Marcus  Antonius.  I  approach  the  rest  of 
my  speech  with  great  hope,  O  conscript  fathers,  since  I  have 
now  passed  by  that  perilous  point  amid  your  silence. 

Why  then  do  I  not  wish  for  peace?  Because  it  would  be 
shameful ;  because  it  would  be  dangerous ;  because  it  can  not 
possibly  be  real.  And  while  I  explain  these  three  points  to 
you,  I  beg  of  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  listen  to  my  words 
with  the  same  kindness  which  you  usually  show  to  me. 

What  is  more  shameful  than  inconsistency,  fickleness,  and 
levity,  both  to  individuals,  and  also  to  the  entire  senate? 
Moreover,  what  can  be  more  inconsistent  than  on  a  sudden  to 
be  willing  to  be  united  in  peace  with  a  man  whom  you  have 
lately  adjudged  to  be  an  enemy,  not  by  words,  but  by  actions 
and  by  many  formal  decrees  ?  Unless,  indeed,  when  you  were 
decreeing  honors  to  Caius  Caesar,  well  deserved  indeed  by  and 
fairly  due  to  him,  but  still  unprecedented  and  never  to  be  for- 
gotten, for  one  single  reason, — because  he  had  levied  an  army 
against  Marcus  Antonius, — you  were  not  judging  Marcus  An- 
tonius to  be  an  enemy;  and  unless  Antonius  was  not  pro- 
nounced an  enemy  by  you,  when  the  veteran  soldiers  were 
praised  by  your  authority,  for  having  followed  Caesar ;  and 
unless  you  did  not  declare  Antonius  an  enemy  when  you  prom- 
ised exemptions  and  money  and  lands  to  those  brave  legions, 
because  they  had  deserted  him  who  was  consul  while  he  was 
an  enemy. 

IV.  What?  when  you  distinguished  with  the  highest  praises 
Brutus,  a  man  born  under  some  omen,  as  it  were,  of  his  race 
and  name,  for  the  deliverance  of  the  republic,  and  his  army 
which  was  waging  war  against  Antonius  on  behalf  of  the  lib- 
erty of  the  Roman  people,  and  the  most  loyal  and  admirable 
province  of  Gaul,  did  you  not  then  pronounce  Antonius  an 
enemy?  What?  when  you  decreed  that  the  consuls,  one  or 
both  of  them,  should  go  to  the  war,  what  war  was  there  if 
Antonius  was  not  an  enemy"?  Why  then  was  it  that  most 
gallant  man,  my  own  colleague  and  intimate  friend,  Aulus 
Hirtius  the  consul,  has  set  out?  And  in  what  delicate  health 
he  is ;  how  wasted  away !  But  the  weak  state  of  his  body 
could  not  repress  the  vigor  of  his  mind.     He  thought  it  fair, 


THE  SEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  405 

I  suppose,  to  expose  to  danger  in  defense  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple that  life  which  had  been  preserved  to  him  by  their  prayers. 
What !  when  you  ordered  levies  of  troops  to  be  made  through- 
out all  Italy,  when  you  suspended  all  exemptions  from  service, 
was  he  not  by  those  steps  declared  to  be  an  enemy'?  You  see 
manufactories  of  arms  in  the  city ;  soldiers,  sword  in  hand, 
are  following  the  consul ;  they  are  in  appearance  a  guard  to 
the  consul,  but  in  fact  and  reality  to  us ;  all  men  are  giving 
in  their  names,  not  only  without  any  shirking,  but  with  the 
greatest  eagerness ;  they  are  acting  in  obedience  to  your  au- 
thority. Has  not  Antonius  been  declared  an  enemy  by  such 
acts  ? 

"  Oh,  but  we  have  sent  embassadors  to  him."  Alas,  wretch- 
ed that  I  am !  why  am  I  compelled  to  find  fault  with  the  sen- 
ate whom  I  have  always  praised  f  Why  1  Do  you  think, 
O  conscript  fathers,  that  you  have  induced  the  Roman  people 
to  approve  of  the  sending  embassadors  ?  Do  you  not  perceive, 
do  you  not  hear,  that  the  adoption  of  my  opinion  is  demanded 
by  them  1  that  opinion  which  you,  in  a  full  house,  agreed  to 
the  day  before,  though  the  day  after  you  allowed  yourselves 
to  be  brought  down  to  a  groundless  hope  of  peace.  Moreover, 
how  shameful  it  is  for  the  legions  to  send  out  embassadors  to 
the  senate,  and  the  senate  to  Antonius !  Although  that  is 
not  an  embassy ;  it  is  a  denunciation  that  destruction  is  pre- 
pared for  him  if  he  do  not  submit  to  this  order.  AVhat  is  the 
difference  ?  At  all  events,  men's  opinions  are  unfavorable  to 
the  measure ;  for  all  men  see  that  embassadors  have  been  sent, 
but  it  is  not  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  terms  of  your 
decree. 

V.  You  must,  therefore,  preserve  your  consistency,  your 
wisdom,  your  firmness,  your  perseverance.  You  must  go 
back  to  the  old-fashioned  severity,  if  at  least  the  authority  of 
the  senate  is  anxious  to  establish  its  credit,  its  honor,  its  re- 
nown, and  its  dignity,  things  which  this  order  has  been  too 
long  deprived  of.  But  there  was  some  time  ago  some  excuse 
for  it,  as  being  oppressed ;  a  miserable  excuse  indeed,  but  still 
a  fair  one ;  now  there  is  none.  We  appeared  to  have  been 
delivered  from  kingly  tyranny ;  and  afterward  we  were  op- 
pressed much  more  severely  by  domestic  enemies.  We  did  in- 
deed turn  their  arms  aside ;  we  must  now  wrest  them  from 
their  hands.  And  if  we  can  not  do  so  (I  will  say  what  it 
becomes  one  who  is  both  a  senator  and  a  Roman  to  say),  let 


40C  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

us  die.  For  how  just  will  be  the  shame,  how  great  will  be 
the  disgrace,  how  great  the  infamy  to  the  republic,  if  Marcus 
Antonius  can  deliver  his  opinion  in  this  assembly  from  the 
consular  bench.  For,  to  say  nothing  of  the  countless  acts  of 
wickedness  committed  by  him  while  consul  in  the  city,  during 
which  time  he  has  squandered  a  vast  amount  of  public  money, 
restored  exiles  without  any  law,  sold  our  revenues  to  all  sorts 
of  people,  removed  provinces  from  the  empire  of  the  Roman 
people,  given  men  kingdoms  for  bribes,  imposed  laws  on  the 
city  by  violence,  besieged  the  senate,  and,  at  other  times,  ex- 
cluded it  from  the  senate-house  by  force  of  arms ; — to  say  no- 
thing, I  say,  of  all  this,  do  you  not  consider  this,  that  he  who 
has  attacked  Mutina,  a  most  powerful  colony  of  the  Roman 
people — who  has  besieged  a  general  of  the  Roman  people, 
who  is  consul  elect — who  has  laid  waste  the  lands, — do  you 
not  consider,  I  say,  how  shameful  and  iniquitous  a  thing  it 
would  be  for  that  man  to  be  received  into  this  order,  by  which 
he  has  been  so  repeatedly  pronounced  an  enemy  for  these  very 
reasons  ? 

I  have  said  enough  of  the  shamefulness  of  such  a  proceed- 
ing ;  I  will  now  speak  next,  as  I  proposed,  of  the  danger  of 
it ;  which,  although  it  is  not  so  important  to  avoid  as  shame, 
still  offends  the  minds  of  the  greater  part  of  mankind  even  more. 

VI.  Will  it  then  be  possible  for  you  to  rely  on  the  certainty 
of  any  peace,  when  you  see  Antonius,  or  rather  the  Antonii, 
in  the  city?  Unless,  indeed,  you  despise  Lucius:  I  do  not 
despise  even  Caius.  But,  as  I  think,  Lucius  will  be  the  domi- 
nant spirit, — for  he  is  the  patron  of  the  iive-and-thirty  tribes, 
whose  votes  he  took  away  by  his  law,  by  which  he  divided  the 
magistracies  in  conjunction  with  Caius  Caesar*  He  is  the 
patron  of  the  centuries  of  the  Roman  knights,  which  also  he 
thought  fit  to  deprive  of  the  suffrages  :  he  is  the  patron  of  the 
men  who  have  been  military  tribunes  ;  he  is  the  patron  of  the 
middle  of  Janus.  O  ye  gods !  who  will  be  able  to  support 
this  man's  power1?  especially  when  he  has  brought  all  his  de- 
pendents into  the  lands.  Who  ever  was  the  patron  of  all  the 
tribes?  and  of  the  Roman  knights?  and  of  the  military  trib. 
unes?  Do  you  think  that  the  power  of  even  the  Gracchi  was 
greater  than  that  of  this  gladiator  will  be?  whom  I  have 
called  gladiator,  not  in  the  sense  in  which  sometimes  Marcus 
Antonius  too  is  called  gladiator,  but  as  nun  call  him  who  are 
speaking  plain  Latin.     He  has  fought  in  Asia  as  a  mirmillo. 


THE  SEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  407 

After  having  equipped  his  own  companion  and  intimate  friend 
in  the  armor  of  a  Thracian,  he  slew  the  miserable  man  as  he 
was  dying;  but  he  himself  received  a  palpable  wound,  as  the 
scar  proves. 

What  will  the  man  who  murdered  his  friend  in  this  way,  1  V^ 
when  he  has  an  opportunity,  do  to  an  enemy  1  and  if  he  did 
such  a  thing  as  this  for  the  fun  of  the  thing,  what  do  you 
think  he  will  do  when  tempted  by  the  hope  of  plunder? 
Will  he  not  again  meet  wicked  men  in  the  decuries?  will  he 
not  again  tamper  with  those  men  who  have  received  lands? 
will  he  not  again  seek  those  who  have  been  banished?  will 
he  not,  in  short,  be  Marcus  Antonius ;  to  whom,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  every  commotion,  there  will  be  a  rush  of  all  profligate 
citizens?  Even  if  there  be  no  one  else  except  those  who  are 
with  him  now,  and  these  who  in  this  body  now  openly  speak 
in  his  favor,  will  they  be  too  small  in  number?  especially 
when  all  the  protection  which  we  might  have  had  from  good 
men  is  lost,  and  when  those  men  are  prepared  to  obey  his 
nod  ?  But  I  am  afraid,  if  at  this  time  we  fail  to  adopt  wise 
counsels,  that  that  party  will  in  a  short  time  appear  too  nu- 
merous for  us.  Nor  have  I  any  dislike  to  peace ;  only  I  do 
dread  war  disguised  under  the  name  of  peace.  Wherefore,  if 
we  wish  to  enjoy  peace  we  must  first  wage  war.  If  we  shrink 
from  war,  peace  we  shall  never  have. 

VII.  But  it  becomes  your  prudence,  O  conscript  fathers, 
to  provide  as  far  forward  as  possible  for  posterity.  That  is 
the  object  for  which  we  were  placed  in  this  garrison,  and  a$ 
it  were  on  this  watch-tower ;  that  by  our  vigilance  and  fore-, 
sight  we  might  keep  the  Eoman  people  free  from  fear.  It 
would  be  a  shameful  thing,  especially  in  so  clear  a  case  aa 
this,  for  it  to  be  notorious  that  wisdom  was  wanting  to  the 
chief  council  of  the  whole  world.  We  have  such  consuls, 
there  is  such  eagerness  on  the  part  of  the  Roman  people,  w<# 
have  such  an  unanimous  feeling  of  all  Italy  in  our  favor,  such 
generals,  and  such  armies,  that  the  republic  can  not  possibly 
suffer  any  disaster  without  the  senate  being  in  fault.  I,  foi 
my  part,  will  not  be  wanting.  I  will  warn  you,  I  will  fore- 
warn you,  I  will  give  you  notice,  I  will  call  gods  and  men  to 
witness  what  I  do  really  believe.  Nor  will  I  display  my  good 
faith  alone,  which  perhaps  may  seem  to  be  enough,  but  which 
in  a  chief  citizen  is  not  enough  :  I  will  exert  all  my  care,  and 
prudence,  and  vigilance. 


408  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

I  have  spoken  about  the  danger.  I  will  now  proceed  to 
prove  to  you  that  it  is  not  possible  for  peace  to  be  firmly  ce- 
mented ;  for  of  the  propositions  which  I  promised  to  establish 
this  is  the  last. 

VIII.  What  peace  can  there  be  between  Marcus  Antonius 
and  (in  the  first  place)  the  senate?  with  what  face  will  he  be 
able  to  look  upon  you,  and  with  what  eyes  will  you,  in  turn, 
look  upon  him?  Which  of  you  does  not  hate  him?  which  of 
you  does  not  he  hate?  Come,  are  you  the  only  people  who 
hate  him,  and  whom  he  hates  ?  What  ?  what  do  you  think 
of  those  men  who  are  besieging  Mutina,  who  are  levying  troops 
in  Gaul,  who  are  threatening  your  fortunes?  will  they  ever 
be  friends  to  you,  or  you  to  them  ?  Will  he  embrace  the 
Roman  knights?  For,  suppose  their  inclinations  respecting, 
and  their  opinions  of  Antonius  were  very  much  concealed, 
when  they  stood  in  crowds  on  the  steps  of  the  temple  of  Con- 
cord, when  they  stimulated  you  to  endeavor  to  recover  your 
liberty,  when  they  demanded  arms,  the  robe  of  war,  and  war, 
and  who,  with  the  Roman  people,  invited  me  to  meet  in  the 
assembly  of  the  people,  will  these  men  ever  become  friends  to 
Antonius?  will  Antonius  ever  maintain  peace  with  them? 
For  why  should  I  speak  of  the  whole  Roman  people?  which, 
in  a  full  and  crowded  forum,  twice,  with  one  heart  and  one 
voice,  summoned  me  into  the  assembly,  and  plainly  showed 
their  excessive  eagerness  for  the  recovery  of  their  liberty.  So, 
desirable  as  it  was  before  to  have  the  Roman  people  for  our 
comrade,  we  now  have  it  for  our  leader. 

What  hope  then  is  there  that  there  ever  can  be  peace  be- 
tween the  Roman  people  and  the  men  who  are  besieging  Mu- 
tina and  attacking  a  general  and  army  of  the  Roman  people  ! 
Will  there  be  peace  with  the  municipal  towns,  whose  great 
zeal  is  shown  by  the  decrees  which  they  pass,  by  the  soldiers 
whom  they  furnish,  by  the  sums  which  they  promise,  so  that 
in  each  town  there  is  such  a  spirit  as  leaves  no  one  room  to 
wish  for  a  senate  of  the  Roman  people  ?  The  men  of  Firmi- 
um  deserve  to  be  praised  by  a  resolution  of  our  order,  who 
set  the  first  example  of  promising  money  ;  we  ought  to  return 
a  complimentary  answer  to  the  Marrucini,  who  have  passed  a 
vote  that  all  who  evade  military  service  are  to  be  branded 
with  infamy.  These  measures  are  adopted  all  over  Italy. 
There  is  great  peace  between  Antonius  and  these  men,  and 
between    thmi    and  him  !      What    greater  discord   can   there 


THE  SEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  400 

possibly  be  ?  And  in  discord  civil  peace  can  not  by  any  pos- 
sibility exist.  To  say  nothing  of  the  mob,  look  at  Luciu§ 
Nasidius,  a  Roman  knight,  a  man  of  the  very  highest  accom- 
plishments and  honor,  a  citizen  always  eminent,  whose  watch- 
fulness and  exertions  for  the  protection  of  my  life  I  felt  in  my 
consulship ;  who  not  only  exhorted  his  neighbors  to  become 
soldiers,  but  also  assisted  them  from  his  own  resources ;  will 
it  be  possible  ever  to  reconcile  Antonius  to  such  a  man  as 
this,  a  man  whom  we  ought  to  praise  by  a  formal  resolution 
of  the  senate?  "What?  will  it  be  possible  to  reconcile  him  to 
Caius  Caesar,  who  prevented  him  from  entering  the  city,  or 
to  Decimus  Brutus,  who  has  refused  him  entrance  into  Gaul? 
Moreover,  will  he  reconcile  himself  to,  or  look  mercifully  on 
the  provice  of  Gaul,  by  which  he  has  been  excluded  and  re- 
jected? You  will  see  every  thing,  O  conscript  fathers,  if  you 
do  not  take  care,  full  of  hatred  and  full  of  discord,  from  which 
civil  wars  arise.  Do  not  then  desire  that  which  is  impossi- 
ble ;  and  beware,  I  entreat  you  by  the  immortal  gods,  O  con- 
script fathers,  that  out  of  hope  of  present  peace  you  do  not 
lose  perpetual  peace. 

"What  now  is  the  object  of  this  oration  ?  For  we  do  not 
yet  know  what  the  embassadors  have  done.  But  still  we 
ought  to  be  awake,  erect,  prepared,  armed  in  our  minds,  so 
as  not  to  be  deceived  by  any  civil  or  supplicatory  language, 
or  by  any  pretense  of  justice.  He  must  have  complied  with 
all  the  prohibitions  and  all  the  commands  which  we  have 
sent  him,  before  he  can  demand  any  thing.  He  must  have 
desisted  from  attacking  Brutus  and  his  army,  and  from  plun- 
dering the  cities  and  lands  of  the  province  of  Gaul ;  he  must 
have  permitted  the  embassadors  to  go  to  Brutus,  and  led  his 
army  back  on  this  side  of  the  Rubicon,  and  yet  not  come 
within  two  hundred  miles  of  this  city.  He  must  have  sub- 
mitted himself  to  the  power  of  the  senate  and  of  the  Roman 
people.  If  he  does  this,  then  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  of 
deliberating  without  any  decision  being  forced  upon  us  either 
way.  If  he  does  not  obey  the  senate,  then  it  will  not  be  the 
senate  that  declares  war  against  him,  but  he  who  will  have 
declared  it  against  the  senate. 

But  I  warn  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  liberty  of  the 
Roman  people,  which  is  intrusted  to  you,  is  at  stake.  The 
life  and  fortune  of  every  virtuous  man  is  at  stake,  against 
which  Antonius  has  long  been  directing  his  insatiable  covet- 

S 


410  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

ousness,  united  to  his  savage  cruelty.  Your  authority  is  at 
stake,  which  you  will  wholly  lose  if  you  do  not  maintain  it 
now.  Beware  how  you  let  that  foul  and  deadly  beast  escape 
now  that  you  have  got  him  confined  and  chained.  You  too, 
Pansa,  I  warn  (although  you  do  not  need  counsel,  for  you 
have  plenty  of  wisdom  yourself:  but  still,  even  the  most  skill- 
ful pilots  receive  often  warnings  from  the  passengers  in  terri- 
ble storms),  not  to  allow  this  vast  and  noble  preparation 
which  you  have  made  to  fall  away  to  nothing.  You  have 
such  an  opportunity  as  no  one  ever  had.  It  is  in  your  power 
so  to  avail  yourself  of  this  wise  firmness  of  the  senate,  of  this 
zeal  of  the  equestrian  order,  of  this  ardor  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, as  to  release  the  Roman  people  from  fear  and  danger  for- 
ever. As  to  the  matters  to  which  your  motion  before  the 
senate  refers,  I  agree  with  Publius  Servilius. 


THE  EIGHTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MAR- 
CUS ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    EIGHTH    PHILIPPIC, 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

After  the  embassy  to  Antonius  had  left  Rome,  the  consuls  zealously  ex- 
erted themselves  in  preparing  for  war,  in  case  he  should  reject  the  de- 
mands of  the  embassadors.  Hirtius,  though  in  bad  health,  left  Rome 
first,  at  the  head  of  an  army  containing,  among  others,  the  Martial  and 
the  fourth  legions  ;  intending  to  join  Octavius,  and  hoping  with  his 
assistance  to  prevent  his  gaining  any  advantage  over  Brutus  till  Pansa 
could  join  them.  And  he  gained  some  ad.'ar.iages  over  Antonius  at 
once. 

About  the  beginning  of  February  the  two  remaining  embassadors  (for 
Servius  Sulpicius  had  died  just  as  they  arrived  at  Antonius's  camp) 
returned,  bringing  word  that  Antonius  would  comply  with  none  of  the 
commands  of  the  senate,  nor  allow  them  to  proceed  to  Decimus  Brutus  ; 
and  bringing  also  (contrarj'  to  their  duty)  demands  from  him,  of  which 
the  principal  were,  that  his  troops  were  to  be  rewarded,  all  the  acts  of 
himself  and  Dolabella  to  be  ratified,  as  also  all  that  he  had  done  respect- 
ing Caesar's  papers ;  that  no  account  was  to  be  required  of  him  of  the 
money  in  the  temple  of  Ops  ;  and  that  he  should  have  the  farther  Gaul 
with  an  army  of  six  legions. 

Pansa  summoned  the  senate  to  receive  the  report  of  the  embassadors, 
when  Cicero  made  a  severe  speech,  proposing  very  vigorous  measures 
against  Antonius;  which,  however,  Calenus  and  his  party  wee  still 
numerous  enough  to  mitigate  very  greatly  ;*' and  even   ranpa  voted 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC.  411 

against  him  and  in  favor  of  the  milder  measures  ;  though  they  could 
not  prevail  against  Cicero  to  have  a  second  embassy  sent  to  Antonius, 
and  though  Cicero  carried  his  point  of  ordering  the  citizens  to  assume 
the  sagupi,  or  robe  of  war,  which  he  also  (waving  his  privilege  as  a 
man  of  consular  rank)  wore  himself.  The  next  day  the  senate  met 
again,  to  draw  up  in  form  the  decrees  on  which  they  had  resolved  the 
day  before  ;  when  Cicero  addressed  the  following  speech  to  them,  ex- 
postulating with  them  for  their  wavering  the  day  before. 

I.  Matters  were  carried  on  yesterday,  O  Caius  Pansa,  in  a 
more  irregular  manner  than  the  beginning  of  your  consulship 
required.  You  did  not  appear  to  me  to  make  sufficient  re- 
sistance to  those  men,  to  whom  you  are  not  in  the  habit  of 
yielding.  For  while  the  virtue  of  the  senate  was  such  as  it 
usually  is,  and  while  all  men  saw  that  there  was  war  in 
reality,  and  some  thought  that  the  name  ought  to  be  kept 
back ;  on  the  division,  your  inclination  inclined  to  lenity. 
The  course  which  we  proposed  therefore  was  defeated,  at  your 
instigation,  on  account  of  the  harshness  of  the  word  war. 
That  urged  by  Lucius  Caesar,  a  most  honorable  man,  pre- 
vailed, which,  taking  away  that  one  harsh  expression,  was 
gentler  in  its  language  than  in  its  real  intention.  Although 
he,  indeed,  before  he  delivered  his  opinion  at  all,  pleaded  his 
relationship  to  Antonius  in  excuse  for  it.  He  had  done  the 
same  in  my  consulship,  in  respect  of  his  sister's  husband,  as 
he  did  now  in  respect  of  his  sister's  son;  so  that  he  was  moved 
by  the  grief  of  his  sister,  and  at  the  same  time  he  wished  to 
provide  for  the  safety  of  the  republic. 

And  yet  Caasar  himself  in  some  degree  recommended  you, 
O  conscript  fathers,  not  to  agree  with  him,  when  he  said  that 
he  should  have  expressed  quite  different  sentiments,  worthy 
both  of  himself  and  of  the  republic,  if  he  had  not  been  ham- 
pered by  his  relationship  to  Antonius.  He,  then,  is  his  uncle ; 
are  you  his  uncles  too,  you  who  voted  with  him? 

But  on  what  did  the  dispute  turn  1  Some  men,  in  deliver- 
ing their  opinion,  did  not  choose  to  insert  the  word  "  war." 
They  preferred  calling  it  "tumult,"  being  ignorant  not  only 
of  the  state  of  affairs,  but  also  of  the  meaning  of  words.  For 
there  can  be  a  "war"  without  a  "tumult,"  but  there  can  not 
be  a  "tumult"  without  a  "war."  For  what  is  a  "tumult," 
but  such  a  violent  disturbance  that  an  unusual  alarm  is  en- 
gendered by  it?  from  which  indeed  the  name  "tumult"1  is 
derived.  Therefore,  our  ancestors  spoke  of  the  Italian  "  tu' 
1  /.  e.  tumultus,  as  if  it  were  timor  multus. 


•112  CICERO'S  ORATIOiNS. 

mult,"  which  was  a  domestic  one ;  of  the  Gallic  "  tumult," 
which  was  on  the  frontier  of  Italy ;  but  they  never  spoke  of 
any  other.  And  that  a  "  tumult"  is  a  more  serious  thing 
than  a  "  war"  may  be  seen  from  this,  that  during  a  war  ex- 
empt ions  from  military  service  are  valid  ;  but  in  a  tumult 
they  are  not.  So  that  it  is  the  fact,  as  I  have  said,  that  war 
can  exist  without  a  tumult,  but  a  tumult  can  not  exist  with- 
out a  war.  In  truth,  as  there  is  no  medium  between  war 
and  peace,  it  is  quite  plain  that  a  tumult,  if  it  be  not  a  sort  of 
war,  must  be  a  sort  of  peace ;  and  what  more  absurd  can  be 
said  or  imagined?  However,  we  have  said  too  much  about  a 
word,  let  us  rather  look  to  the  facts,  O  conscript  fathers,  the 
appreciation  of  which,  I  know,  is  at  times  injured  by  too  much 
attention  being  paid  to  words. 

II.  We  are  unwilling  that  this  should  appear  to  be  a  war. 
What  is  the  object,  then,  of  our  giving  authority  to  the 
municipal  towns  and  colonies  to  exclude  Antonius  ?  of  our 
authorizing  soldiers  to  be  enlisted  without  any  force,  without 
the  terror  of  any  fine,  of  their  own  inclination  and  eagerness'? 
of  permitting  them  to  promise  money  for  the  assistance  of 
the  republic  ?  For  if  the  name  of  war  be  taken  away,  the 
zeal  of  the  municipal  towns  will  be  taken  away  too.  And 
the  unanimous  feeling  of  the  Eoman  people  which  at  present 
pours  itself  into  our  cause,  if  we  cool  upon  it,  must  inevita- 
bly be  damped. 

But  why  need  I  say  more?  Decimus  Brutus  is  attacked 
Is  not  that  war?  Mutina  is  besieged.  Is  not  even  that  war? 
Gaul  is  laid  waste.  What  peace  can  be  more  assured  than 
this?  Who  can  think  of  calling  that  war?  We  have  sent 
forth  a  consul,  a  most  gallant  man,  with  an  army,  who. 
though  he  was  in  a  weak  state  from  a  long  and  serious  ill- 
ness, still  thought  he  ought  not  to  make  any  excuse  when 
he  was  summoned  to  the  protection  of  the  republic.  Caius 
Caisar,  indeed,  did  not  wait  for  our  decrees  ;  especially  as 
that  conduct  of  his  was  not  unsuited  to  his  age.  tic  under- 
took war  against  Antonius  of  his  own  accord ;  for  there  was 
not  yet  time  to  pass  a  decree ;  and  he  saw  that,  if  he  let  slip 
the  opportunity  of  waging  Avar,  when  the  republic  was  crushed 
it  would  be  impossible  to  pass  any  decrees  at  all.  They  and 
their  arms,  then,  are  now  at  peace.  He  is  not  an  enemy 
whose  garrison  Ilirtius  has  driven  from  Claterna ;  he  is  not 
an  enemy  who  is  in  arms  resisting  a  consul,  and  attacking  a 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC.  413 

consul  elect ;  and  those  are  not  the  words  of  an  enemy,  nor 
is  that  warlike  language,  which  Pansa  read  just  now  out  of 
his  colleague's  letters :  "  I  drove  out  the  garrison."  "  I  got 
possession  of  Claterna."  The  cavalry  were  routed."  "  A  bat- 
tle was  fought."  "A  good  many  men  were  slain."  What 
peace  can  be  greater  that  this  1  Lcviejs  of  troops  are  ordered 
throughout  all  Italy;  all  exemptions  from  service  are  sus- 
pended ;  the  robe  of  war  is  to  be  assumed  to-morrow ;  the 
consul  has  said  that  he  shall  come  down  to  the  senate-house 
with  an  armed  guard. 

Is  not  this  war?  Ay,  it  is  such  a  war  as  has  never  been. 
For  in  all  other  wars,  and  most  especially  in  civil  wars,  it  was 
a  difference  as  to  the  political  state  of  the  republic  which  gave 
rise  to  the  contest.  Sylla  contended  against  Sulpicius  about 
the  force  of  laws  which  Sylla  said  had  been  passed  by  violence. 
Cinna  warred  against  Octavius  because  of  the  votes  of  the  new 
citizens.  Again,  Sylla  was  at  variance  with  Cinna  and  Ma- 
rius,  in  order  to  prevent  unworthy  men  from  attaining  power, 
and  to  avenge  the  cruel  death  of  most  illustrious  men.  The 
causes  of  all  these  wars  arose  from  the  zeal  of  different  parties, 
for  what  they  considered  the  interest  of  the  republic.  Of  the 
last  civil  war  I  can  not  bear  to  speak :  I  do  not  understand 
the  cause  of  it :  I  detest  the  result. 

III.  This  is  the  fifth  civil  war  (and  all  of  them  have  fallen 
upon  our  times) :  the  first  which  has  not  only  not  brought  dis- 
sensions and  discord  among  the  citizens,  but  which  has  been 
signalized  by  extraordinary  unanimity  and  incredible  concord. 
All  of  them  have  the  same  wish,  all  defend  the  same  objects, 
all  are  inspired  with  the  same  sentiments.  When  I  say  all,  I 
except  those  whom  no  one  thinks  worthy  of  being  citizens  at 
all.  What,  then,  is  the  cause  of  war,  and  what  is  the  object 
aimed  at?  We  are  defending  the  temples  of  the  immortal 
gods,  we  are  defending  the  walls  of  the  city,  we  are  defending 
the  homes  and  habitations  of  the  Roman  people,  the  house- 
hold gods,  the  altars,  the  hearths  and  the  sepulchres  of  our 
forefathers;  we  are  defending  our  laws,  our  courts  of  justice, 
our  freedom,  our  wives,  our  children,  and  our  country.  On 
the  other  hand,  Marcus  Antonius  labors  and  fights  in  order  to 
throw  into  confusion  and  overturn  all  these  things ;  and  hopes 
to  have  reason  to  think  the  plunder  of  the  republic  sufficient 
cause  for  the  war,  while  he  squanders  part  of  our  fortunes?  and 
distributes  the  rest  among  his  parricidal  followers. 


414  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

While,  then,  the  motives  for  war  are  so  different,  a  most 
miserable  circumstance  is  what  that  fellow  promises  to  his 
band  of  robbers.  In  the  first  place  our  houses ;  for  he  de- 
clares that  he  will  divide  the  city  among  them;  and  after  that 
he  will  lead  them  out  at  whatever  gate  and  settle  them  on 
whatever  lands  they  please.  All  the  Caphons,1  all  the  Saxas, 
and  the  other  plagues  which  attend  Antonius,  are  marking  out 
for  themselves  in  their  own  minds  most  beautiful  houses,  and 
gardens,  and  villas,  at  Tusculum  and  Alba ;  and  those  clown- 
ish men — if  indeed  they  are  men,  and  not  rather  brute  beasts 
— are  borne  on  in  their  empty  hopes  as  far  as  the  waters  and 
Puteoli.  So  Antonius  has  something  to  promise  to  his  fol- 
lowers. What  can  we  do  ?  Have  we  any  thing  of  the  sort  ? 
May  the  gods  grant  us  a  better  fate!  for  our  express  object  is 
to  prevent  any  one  at  all  from  hereafter  making  similar  prom- 
ises. I  say  this  against  my  will,  still  I  must  say  it ; — the  auc- 
tion sanctioned  by  Caesar,  O  conscript  fathers,  gives  many 
wicked  men  both  hope  and  audacity.  For  they  saw  some  men 
become  suddenly  rich  from  having  been  beggars.  Therefore, 
those  men  who  are  hanging  over  our  property,  and  to  whom 
Antonius  promises  every  thing,  are  always  longing  to  see  an 
auction.  "What  can  we  do?  What  do  we  promise  our  sol- 
diers? Things  much  better  and  more  honorable.  For  prom- 
ises to  be  earned  by  wicked  actions  are  pernicious  both  to 
those  wrho  expect  them,  and  to  those  who  promise  them.  We 
promise  to  our  soldiers  freedom,  rights,  laws,  justice,  the  em- 
pire of  the  world,  dignity,  peace,  tranquillity.  The  promises 
then  of  Antonius  are  bloody,  polluted,  wicked,  odious  to  god- 
and  men,  neither  lasting  nor  salutary;  ours,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  honorable,  upright,  glorious,  full  of  happiness,  and  full  of 
piety. 

IV.  Hero  also  Quintus  Fufius,  a  brave  and  energetic  man, 
and  a  friend  of  mine,  reminds  me  of  the  advantages  of  peace. 
As  if,  if  it  were  necessary  to  praise  peace,  I  could  not  do  it 
myself  quite  as  well  as  he.  For  is  it  once  only  that  I  have 
defended  peace?  Have  I  not  at  all  times  labored  for  tran- 
quillity ?  which  is  desirable  for  all  good  men,  hut  especially 
for  me.  For  what  course  could  my  industry  pursue  without 
forensic  causes,  without  laws,  without  courts  of  justice?  and 
these  things  can  have  no  existence  when  civil  peace  is  taken 
away.  But  I  want  to  know  what  you  mean,  O  Calejjus  ?  Do 
1  These  were  the  names  of  officers  devoted  to  Antonius 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC.  415 

you  call  slavery  peace?  Our  ancestors  used  to  take  up  arms 
not  merely  to  secure  their  freedom,  but  also  to  acquire  em- 
pire ;  you  think  that  we  ought  to  throw  away  our  arms,  in 
order  to  become  slaves.  What  juster  cause  is  there  for  wag- 
ing war  than  the  wish  to  repel  slavery?  in  which,  even  if 
one's  master  be  not  tyrannical,  yet  it  is  a  most  miserable 
thing  that  he  should  be  able  to  be  so  if  he  chooses.  In  truth, 
other  causes  are  just,  this  is  a  necessary  one.  Unless,  perhaps, 
you  think  that  this  does  not  apply  to  you,  because  you  expect 
that  you  will  be  a  partner  in  the  dominion  of  Antonius. 
And  there  you  make  a  two-fold  mistake :  first  of  all,  in  pre- 
ferring your  own  to  the  general  interest ;  and  in  the  next  place, 
in  thinking  that  there  is  any  thing  either  stable  or  pleasant 
in  kingly_power.  Even  if  it  has  before  now  been  advanta- 
geous to  you,  it  will  not  always  be  so.  Moreover,  you  used 
to  complain  of  that  former  master,  who  was  a  man ;  what  do 
you  think  you  will  do  when  your  master  is  a  beast?  And 
you  say  that  you  are  a  man  who  have  always  been  desirous 
of  peace,  and  have  always  wished  for  the  preservation  of  all 
the  citizens.  Very  honest  language ;  that  is,  if  you  mean  all 
citizens  who  are  virtuous,  and  useful,  and  serviceable  to  the 
republic ;  but  if  you  wish  those  who  are  by  nature  citizens, 
but  by  inclination  enemies,  to  be  saved,  what  difference  is 
there  between  you  and  them?  Your  father,  indeed,  with 
whom  I  as  a  youth  was  acquainted,  wrhen  he  was  an  old  man, 
■ — a  man  of  rigid  virtue  and  wisdom, — used  to  give  the  great- 
est praise  of  all  citizens  who  had  ever  lived  to  Publius  Nas- 
ica,  who  slew  Tiberius  Gracchus.  By  his  valor,  and  wis- 
dom, and  magnanimity  he  thought  that  the  republic  had  been 
saved.  What  am  I  to  say  ?  Have  we  received  any  other  doc- 
trine from  our  fathers?  Therefore,  that  citizen — if  you  had 
lived  in  those  times — would  not  have  been  approved  of  by 
you,  because  he  did  not  wish  all  the  citizens  to  be  safe.  "  Be- 
cause Lucius  Opimius  the  consul  has  made  a  speech  con- 
cerning the  republic,  the  senators  have  thus  decided  on  that 
matter,  that  Opimius  the  consul  shall  defend  the  republic." 
The  senate  adopted  these  measures  in  words,  Opimius  follow- 
ed them  up  by  his  arms.  Should  you  then,  if  you  had  lived 
in  those  times,  have  thought  him  a  hasty  or  a  cruel  citizen? 
or  should  you  have  thought  Quintus  Metellus  one,  whose  four 
eons  were  all  men  of  consular  rank  ?  or  Publius  Lentulus  the 
chief  of  the  senate,  and  many  other  admirable  men,  who,  with 


416  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Lucius  Opimius  the  consul,  took  arm«,  and  pursued  Gracchus 
to  the  Aventine  f  and  in  the  battle  which  ensued,  Lentulus  re- 
ceived a  severe  wound,  Gracchus  was  slain,  and  so  was  Mar- 
cus Fulvius,  a  man  of  consular  rank,  and  his  two  youthful  sons. 
Those  men,  therefore,  are  to  be  blamed  ;  for  they  did  not  wish 
all  the  citizens  to  be  safe. 

V.  Let  us  come  to  instances  nearer  our  own  time.  The 
senate  intrusted  the  defense  of  the  republic  to  Caius  Marius 
and  Lucius  Valerius  the  consuls.  Lucius  Saturninus,  a  trib- 
une of  the  people,  and  Caius  Glaucia  the  praetor,  were  slain. 
On  that  day,  all  the  Scauri,  and  Metelli,  and  Claudii,  and 
Catuli,  and  Scaevolse,  and  Crassi  took  arms.  Do  you  think 
either  those  consuls  or  those  other  most  illustrious  men  de- 
serving of  blame  %  I  myself  wished  Catiline  to  perish.  Did 
you  who  wish  every  one  to  be  safe,  wish  Catiline  to  be  safe  1 
There  is  this  difference,  O  Calenus,  between  my  opinion  and 
yours.  I  wish  no  citizen  to  commit  such  crimes  as  deserve 
to  be  punished  with  death.  You  think  that,  even  if  he  has 
committed  them,  still  he  ought  to  be  saved.  If  there  is  any 
thing  in  our  own  body  which  is  injurious  to  the  rest  of  the 
body,  we  allow  that  to  be  burned  and  cut  out,  in  order  that  a 
limb  may  be  lost  in  preference  to  the  whole  body.  And  so 
in  the  body  of  the  republic,  whatever  is  rotten  must  be  cut 
off  in  order  that  the  whole  may  be  saved.  Harsh  language! 
This  is  much  more  harsh,  "Let  the  worthless,  and  wicked, 
and  impious  be  saved ;  let  the  innocent,  the  honorable,  the 
virtuous,  the  whole  republic  be  destroyed."  In  the  case  of 
one  individual,  O  Quintus  Fufius,  I  confess  that  you  saw  more 
than  I  did.  I  thought  Publius  Clodius  a  mischievous,  wick- 
ed, lustful,  impious,  audacious,  criminal  citizen.  You,  on  the 
other  hand,  called  him  religious,  temperate,  innocent,  modest ; 
a  citizen  to  be  preserved  and  desired.  In  this  one  particular 
I  admit  that  you  had  great  discernment,  and  that  I  made  a 
great  mistake.  For  as  for  your  saying  that  I  am  in  the  habit 
of  arguing  against  you  with  ill  temper,  that  is  not  the  case.  I 
confess  that  I  argue  with  vehemence,  but  not  with  ill  temper. 
I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  getting  angry  with  my  friends  every 
now  and  then,  not  even  if  they  deserve  it.  Therefore,  I  can 
differ  from  you  without  using  any  insulting  language,  though 
not  without  feeling  the  greatest  grief  of  mind.  For  is  the  dis- 
sension between  you  and  me  a  trifling  one,  or  on  a  trifling 
subject?     Is  it  merely  a  case  of  my  favoring  this  man,  and 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC.  417 

you  that  man  ?  Yes ;  I  indeed  favor  Decimus  Brutus,  you 
favor  Marcus  Antonius ;  I  wish  a  colony  of  the  Roman  people 
to  be  preserved,  you  are  anxious  that  it  should  be  stormed  and 
destroyed. 

VI.  Can  you  deny  this,  when  you  interpose  every  sort  of 
delay  calculated  to  weaken  Brutus,  and  to  improve  the  posi- 
tion of  Antonius !  For  how  long  will  you  keep  on  saying 
that  you  are  desirous  of  peace  !  Matters  are  progressing  rap- 
idly ;  the  works  have  been  carried  on ;  severe  battles  are  tak- 
ing place.  We  sent  three  chief  men  of  the  city  to  interpose. 
Antonius  has  despised,  rejected,  and  repudiated  them.  And 
still  you  continue  a  persevering  defender  of  Antonius.  And 
Calenus,  indeed,  in  order  that  he  may  appear  a  more  con- 
scientious senator,  says  that  he  ought  not  to  be  a  friend  to 
him ;  since,  though  Antonius  was  under  great  obligations  to 
him,  he  still  had  acted  against  him.  See  how  great  is  his  af- 
fection for  his  country.  Though  he  is  angry  with  the  indi- 
vidual, still  he  defends  Antonius  for  the  sake  of  his  country. 

When  you  are  so  bitter,  O  Quintus  Fufius,  against  the  peo- 
ple of  Marseilles,  I  can  not  listen  to  you  with  calmness.  For 
how  Ions;  are  you  jroinir  to  attack  Marseilles  ?     Does  not  even 

O  */  C  O 

a  triumph  put  an  end  to  the  war1?  in  which  was  carried  an 
imajre  of  that  citv,  without  whose  assistance  our  forefathers 
never  triumphed  over  the  Transalpine  nations.  Then,  indeed, 
did  the  Roman  people  groan.  Although  they  had  their  own 
private  griefs  because  of  their  own  affairs,  still  there  was  no 
citizen  who  thought  the  miseries  of  this  most  loval  city  uncon- 
nected  with  himself.  Csesar  himself,  who  had  been  the  most 
angry  of  all  men  with  them,  still,  on  account  of  the  unusually 
high  character  and  loyalty  of  that  city,  was  every  day  relax- 
ing something  of  his  displeasure.  And  is  there  no  extent  of 
calamity  by  which  so  faithful  a  city  can  satiate  you1?  Again, 
perhaps,  you  will  say  that  I  am  losing  my  temper.  But  I  am 
speaking  without  passion,  as  I  always  do,  though  not  without 
great  indignation.  I  think  that  no  man  can  be  an  enemy  to 
that  city,  who  is  a  friend  to  this  one.  What  your  object  is, 
O  Calenus,  I  can  not  imagine.  Formerly  we  were  unable  to 
deter  you  from  devoting  yourself  to  the  gratification  of  the 
people ;  now  we  are  unable  to  prevail  on  you  to  show  any 
regard  for  their  interests.  I  have  argued  loner  enough  with 
Fufius,  saying  every  thing  without  hatred,  but  nothing  with- 
out indignation.     But  I  suppose  that  a  man  who  can  bear  tha 

S2 


418  CICERO  S  ORATIONS. 

jcomplaint  of  his  son-in-law  with  indifference,  will  bear  that  of 
his  friend  with  great  equanimity. 

VII.  I  come  now  to  the  rest  of  the  men  of  consular  rank, 
of  whom  there  is  no  one  (I  say  this  on  my  own  responsibili- 
ty), who  is  not  connected  with  me  in  some  way  or  other  by 
kindnesses  conferred  or  received ;  some  in  a  great,  some  in 
a  moderate  degree,  but  every  one  to  some  extent  or  other. 
What  a  disgraceful  day  was  yesterday  to  us !  to  us  consulars, 
I  mean.     Are  we  to  send  embassadors  again  %    What  %  would 
he  make  a  truce  %     Before  the  very  face  and  eyes  of  the  em- 
bassadors he  battered  Mutina  with  his  engines.     He  displayed 
his  works  and  his  defenses  to  the  embassadors.     The  siege 
was  not  allowed  one  moment's  breathing-time,  not  even  while 
the  embassadors  should  be  present.     Send  embassadors  to  this 
man !    What  for  ?  in  order  to  have  great  fears  for  their  return  % 
In  truth,  though  on  the  previous  occasion  I  had  voted  against 
the  embassadors  being  decreed,  still  I  consoled  myself  with 
this  reflection,  that,  when  they  had  returned  from  Antonius 
despised  and  rejected,  and  had  reported  to  the  senate,  not  mere- 
ly that  he  had  not  withdrawn  from  Gaul,  as  we  had  voted  that 
he  should,  but  that  he  had  not  even  retired  from  before  Muti- 
na, and  that  they  had  not  been  allowed  to  proceed  on  to  Deci- 
mus  Brutus,  all  men  would  be  inflamed  with  hatred  and  stim- 
ulated by  indignation,  so  that  we  should  reinforce  Decimus 
Brutus  with  arms,  and  horses,  and  men.    But  we  have  become 
even  more  languid  since  we  have  become  acquainted  with,  not 
only  the  audacity  and  wickedness  of  Antonius,  but  also  with 
his  insolence  and  pride.     Would  that  Lucius  Caesar  were  in 
health  ;  that  Servius  Sulpicius  were  alive.     This  cause  would 
be  pleaded  much  better  by  three  men,  than  it  is  now  by  me 
single-handed.     What  I  am  going  to  say  I  say   with  grief, 
rather  than  by  way  of  insult.     We  have  been  deserted — we 
have,  I  say,  been  deserted,  O  conscript  fathers,  by  our  chiefs. 
But,  as  I  have  often  said  before,  all  those  who  in  a  time  of  such 
danger  have  proper  and  courageous  sentiments  shall  be  men 
of  consular  rank.     The  embassadors  ought  to  have  brought 
us  back  courage,  they  have  brought  us  back  fear.     Not,  in- 
deed, that  they  have  caused  me  any  fear:   let  them  have  as 
high  an   opinion  as  they  please  of  the  man   to  whom   they 
were  sent;  from  whom  they  have  even  brought  hack  com- 
mands to  us. 

VIII.  O  ye  immortal  gods!    where  are  the  habits  and  vir- 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC:  419 

tues  of  our  forefathers  ?  Caius  Popillius,  in  the  time  of  our 
ancestors,  when  he  had  been  sent  as  embassador  to  Antiochus 
the  kins;',  and  had  given  him  notice,  in  the  words  of  the  senate, 
to  depart  from  Alexandria,  which  he  was  besieging,  on  the 
king's  seeking  to  delay  giving  his  answer,  drew  a  line  round 
him  where  he  was  standing  with  his  rod,  and  stated  that  he 
should  report  him  to  the  senate  if  he  did  not  answer  him  as 
to  what  he  intended  to  do  before  he  moved  oat  of  that  line 
which  surrounded  him.  He  did  well.  For  he  had  brought 
with  him  the  countenance  of  the  senate,  and  the  authority  of 
the  Roman  people  ;  and  if  a  man  does  not  obey  that,  we  are 
not  to  receive  commands  from  him  in  return,  but  he  is  to  be 
utterly  rejected.  Am  I  to  receive  commands  from  a  man  who 
despises  the  commands  of  the  senate?  Or  am  I  to  think  that 
he  has  any  thing  in  common  with  the  senate,  who  besieges  a 
general  of  the  Roman  people  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the 
senate?  But  what  commands  they  are!  With  what  arro- 
gance, with  what  stupidity,  with  what  insolence  are  they  con- 
ceived !  But  what  made  him  charge  our  embassadors  with 
them  when  he  was  sending  Cotyla  to  us,  the  ornament  and 
bulwark  of  his  friends,  a  man  of  sedilitian  rank  ?  if,  indeed,  he 
really  was  an  redile  at  the  time  when  the  public  slaves  flogged 
him  with  thongs  at  a  banquet  by  command  of  Antonius. 

But  what  modest  commands  they  are!  We  must  be  iron- 
hearted  men,  O  conscript  fathers,  to  deny  any  thing  to  this 
man!  "I  give  up  both  provinces,"  says  he;  "I  disband  my 
army  ;  I  am  willing  to  become  a  private  individual."  For 
these  are  his  very  words.  He  seems  to  be  coming  to  him- 
self. "  I  am  willing  to  forget  everv  thing  ;  to  be  reconciled  to 
every  body."  But  what  does  he  add  ?  "  If  you  give  booty 
and  land  to  my  six  legions,  to  my  cavalry,  and  to  my  praeto- 
rian cohort."  He  even  demands  rewards  for  those  men  for 
whom,  if  he  were  to  demand  pardon,  he  would  be  thought 
the  most  impudent  of  men.  He  adds  farther,  "  Those  men 
to  whom  the  lands  have  been  given  which  he  himself  and  Dol- 
abella  distributed,  are  to  retain  them."  This  is  the  Campa- 
nian  and  Leontine  district,  both  which  our  ancestors  consid- 
ered a  certain  resource  in  times  of  scarcity. 

IX.  He  is  protecting  the  interests  of  his  buffoons  and  game- 
sters and  pimps.  He  is  protecting  Capho's  and  Saxa's  inter- 
ests too,  pugnacious  and  muscular  centurions,  whom  he  placed 
among  his  troops  of  male  and  female  buffoons.     Besides  all 


420  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this,  he  demands  "  that  the  decrees  of  himself  and  his  colleague 
concerning  Caesar's  writings  and  memoranda  are  to  stand." 
Why  is  he  so  anxious  that  every  one  should  have  what  he  has 
bought,  if  he  who  sold  it  all  has  the  price  which  he  received 
for  it?  "And  that  his  accounts  of  the  money  in  the  temple 
of  Ops  arc  not  to  be  meddled  with."  That  is  to  say,  that 
those  seven  hundred  millions  of  sesterces  are  not  to  be  recov- 
ered from  him.  "  That  the  septemviri  are  to  be  exempt  from 
blame  or  from  prosecution  for  what  they  have  done."  It  was 
Nucula,  I  imagine,  who  put  him  in  mind  of  that ;  he  was 
afraid,  perhaps,  of  losing  so  many  clients.  He  also  wishes  to 
make  stipulations  in  favor  of  "  those  men  who  are  with  him 
who  may  have  done  any  thing  against  the  laws."  He  is  here 
taking  care  of  Mustela  and  Tiro ;  he  is  not  anxious  about 
himself.  For  what  has  he  done?  has  he  ever  touched  the 
public  money,  or  murdered  a  man,  or  had  armed  men  about 
him?  But  what  reason  has  he  for  taking  so  much  trouble 
about  them?  For  he  demands,  "that  his  own  judiciary  law 
be  not  abrogated."  And  if  he  obtains  that,  what  is  there  that 
he  can  fear  ?  can  he  be  afraid  that  any  one  of  his  friends  may 
be  convicted  by  Cydas,  or  Lysiades,  or  Curius?  However, 
he  does  not  press  us  with  many  more  demands.  "  I  give  up," 
says  he,  "Gallia  Togata;  I  demand  Gallia  Comata"1 — he 
evidently  wishes  to  be  quite  at  his  ease — "with  six  legions, 
and  those  made  up  to  their  full  complement  out  of  the  army 
of  "Deciruus  Brutus;" — not  only  out  of  the  troops  whom  he 
has  enlisted  himself;  "and  he  is  to  keep  possession  of  it  as 
long  as  Marcus  Brutus  and  Caius  Cassius,  as  consuls,  or  as 
proconsuls,  keep  possession  of  their  provinces."  In  the  coini- 
tia  held  by  him,  his  brother  Caius  (for  it  is  his  year)  has 
already  been  repulsed.  "  And  I  myself,"  says  he,  "  am  to  re- 
tain possession  of  my  province  five  years."  But  that  is  ex- 
pressly forbidden  by  the  law  of  Caesar,  and  you  defend  the  acts 
of  Caesar. 

X.  "Were  you,  O  Lucius  Piso,  and  you,  O  Lucius  Philippus, 
you  chiefs  of  the  city,  able,  I  will  not  say  to  endure  in  your 
minds,  but  even  to  listen  with  your  ears  to  these  commands  of 

1  The  province  between  the  Alps  and  the  Rubicon  was  called  Gallia 
Citcrior,  or  Cisalpina,  from  its  situation  ;  al.^o  Tagata,  from  the  inhab- 
itants wearing  the  Roman  toga.  The  other  was  called  Ulterior^  and  by 
Cicero  often  Ultima,  or  Transalpina  ;  and  also  Comata,  from  the  fashion 
of  the  inhabitants  wearing  long  hair. 


THE  EIGHTH  PHILIPPIC.  421 

his  ?  But,  I  suspect  there  was  some  alarm  at  work ;  nor,  while 
in  his  power,  could  you  feel  as  embassadors,  or  as  men  of  con- 
sular rank,  nor  could  you  maintain  your  own  dignity,  or  that 
of  the  republic.  And  nevertheless,  somehow  or  other,  owing 
to  some  philosophy,  I  suppose,  you  did  what  I  could  not  have 
done, — you  returned  without  any  very  angry  feelings.  Marcus 
Antonius  paid  you  no  respect,  though  you  were  most  illustri- 
ous men,  embassadors  of  the  Eoman  people.  As  for  us,  what 
concessions  did  not  we  make  to  Cotvla  the  embassador  of  Mar- 
cus  Antonius  ?  though  it  was  against  the  law  for  even  the  gates 
of  the  city  to  be  opened  to  him,  yet  even  this  temple  was  opem 
ed  to  him.  He  was  allowed  to  enter  the  senate ;  here  yester- 
day he  was  taking  down  our  opinions  and  every  word  we  said 
in  his  note-books ;  and  men  who  had  been  preferred  to  the 
highest  honors  sold  themselves  to  him  in  utter  disregard  of 
their  own  dignity. 

O  ye  immortal  gods !  how  great  an  enterprise  is  it  to  up- 
hold the  character  of  a  leader  in  the  republic ;  for  it  requires 
one  to  be  influenced  not  merely  by  the  thoughts  but  also  by 
the  eyes  of  the  citizens.  To  take  to  one's  house  the  embassa- 
dor of  an  enemy,  to  admit  him  to  one's  chamber,  even  to  con- 
fer apart  with  him,  is  the  act  of  a  man  who  thinks  nothing 
of  his  dignity,  and  too  much  of  his  danger.  But  what  is 
danger?  For  if  one  is  engaged  in  a  contest  where  every  thing 
is  at  stake,  either  liberty  is  assured  to  one  if  victorious,  or 
death  if  defeated ;  the  former  of  which  alternatives  is  desir- 
able, and  the  latter  some  time  or  other  inevitable.  But  a  base 
flight  from  death  is  worse  than,  any  imaginable  death.  For  I 
will  never  be  induced  to  believe  that  there  are  men  who  envy 
the  consistency  or  diligence  of  others,  and  who  are  indignant 
at  the  unceasing  desire  to  assist  the  republic  being  approved 
by  the  senate  and  people  of  Borne.  That  is  what  we  were 
all  bound  to  do ;  and  that  was  not  only  in  the  time  of  our  an- 
cestors, but  even  lately,  the  highest  praise  of  men  of  consular 
rank,  to  be  vigilant,  to  be  anxious,  to  be  always  either  think- 
ing, or  doing,  or  saying  something  to  promote  the  interests  of 
the  republic. 

I,  O  conscript  fathers,  recollect  that  Quintus  Scsevola  the 
aucur,  in  the  Marsic  war,  when  he  was  a  man  of  extreme  old 
age,  and  quite  broken  down  in  constitution,  every  day,  as  soon 
as  it  was  daylight,  used  to  give  every  one  an  opportunity  of 
consulting  him-   nor,  throughout  all  that  war,  did  any  one 


422  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ever  see  him  in  bed ;  and,  though  old  and  weak,  he  was  the 
first  man  to  come  into  the  senate-house.  I  wish,  above  all 
things,  that  those  who  ought  to  do  so  would  imitate  his  indus- 
try ;  and,  next  to  that,  I  wish  that  they  would  not  en\y  the 
exertions  of  another. 

XI.  In  truth,  O  conscript  fathers,  now  we  have  begun  to 
entertain  hopes  of  liberty  again,  after  a  period  of  six  years, 
during  which  we  have  been  deprived  of  it,  having  endured 
slavery  longer  than  prudent  and  industrious  prisoners  usually 
do,  what  watchfulness,  what  anxiety,  what  exertions  ought 
We  to  shrink  from,  for  the  sake  of  delivering  the  Roman  peo- 
ple? In  truth,  O  conscript  fathers,  though  men  who  have 
had  the  honors  conferred  on  them  that  we  have,  usually  wear 
their  gowns,  while  the  rest  of  the  city  is  in  the  robe  of  war, 
still  I  decided  that  at  such  a  momentous  crisis,  and  when  the 
whole  republic  was  in  so  disturbed  a  state,  we  would  not  differ 
in  our  dress  from  you  and  the  rest  of  the  citizens.  For  we 
men  of  consular  rank  are  not  in  this  war  conductino-  ourselves 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  Roman  people  will  be  likely  to 
look  with  equanimity  on  the  ensigns  of  our  honor,  when  some 
of  us  are  so  cowardly  as  to  have  cast  away  all  recollection  of 
the  kindnesses  which  they  have  received  from  the  Roman  peo- 
ple; some  are  so  disaffected  to  the  republic  that  they  openly 
allege  that  they  favor  this  enemy,  and  easily  bear  having  our 
embassadors  despised  and  insulted  by  Antonius,  while  they 
wish  to  support  the  embassador  sent  by  Antonius.  For  they 
said  that  he  ought  not  to  be  prevented  from  returning  to  An- 
tonius, and  they  proposed  an  amendment  to  my  proposition  of 
not  receiving  him.  Well,  I  will  submit  to  them.  Let  Yarius, 
return  to  his  general,  but  on  condition  that  he  never  returns 
to  Kome.  And  as  to  the  others,  if  they  abandon  their  errors, 
and  return  to  their  duty  to  the  republic,  I  think  they  may  bo 
pardoned  and  left  unpunished. 

Therefore,  I  give  my  vote,  "That  of  those  men  who  aro 
with  Marcus  Antonius,  those  who  abandon  his  army,  and  come 
over  either  to  Caius  Pansa  or  Aulus  Ilirtius  the  consuls;  or 
to  Decimus  Brutus,  imperator  and  consul  elect ;  or  to  Caius 
Caesar,  propraetor,  before  the  first  of  March  next,  shall  not  be 
liable  to  prosecution  for  having  been  with  Antonius.  Thai, 
if  any  one  of  those  men  who  are  now  with  Antonius  shall  do 
any  thing  which  appears  entitled  to  honor  or  to  reward,  Caius 
Pansa  and  Aulus  Ilirtius  the  consuls,  one  or  both  of  therm 


THE  NINTH  PHILIPPIC.  423 

shall,  if  they  think  fit,  make  a  motion  to  the  senate  respecting 
that  man's  honor  or  reward,  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  That, 
if,  after  this  resolution  of  the  senate,  any  one  shall  go  to  An- 
tonius  except  Lucius  Varius,  the  senate  will  consider  that  that 
man  has  acted  as  an  enemy  to  the  republic." 


THE  NINTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MARCUS 

ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    NINTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Servius  Sulpicius,  as  has  been  already  said,  had  died  on  his  embassy  to 
Marcus  Antonius,  before  Mutina ;  and  the  day  after  the  delivery  of 
the  preceding  speech,  Pansa  again  called  the  senate  together  to  delib- 
erate on  the  honors  to  be  paid  to  his  memory.  He  himself  proposed 
a  public  funeral,  a  sepulchre,  and  a  statue.  Servilius  opposed  the 
statue,  as  due  only  to  those  who  had  been  slain  by  violence  while  in 
discharge  of  their  duties  as  embassadors.  Cicero  delivered  the  follow- 
ing oration  in  support  of  Pansa's  proposition,  which  was  carried.1 

I.  I  wish,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  the  immortal  gods  had 
granted  to  us  to  return  thanks  to  Servius  Sulpicius  while 
alive,  rather  than  thus  to  devise  honors  for  him  now  that  he 
is  dead.  Nor  have  I  any  doubt,  but  that  if  that  man  had  been 
able  himself  to  give  us  his  report  of  the  proceedings  of  his  em- 
bassy, his  return  would  have  been  acceptable  to  you  and  salu- 
tary to  the  republic.  Not  that  either  Lucius  Piso  or  Lucius 
Philippus  have  been  deficient  in  either  zeal  or  care  in  the  per- 
formance of  so  important  a  duty  and  so  grave  a  commission ; 
but,  as  Servius  Sulpicius  was  superior  in  age  to  them,  and  in 
wisdom  to  every  one,  he,  being  suddenly  taken  from  the  busi- 
ness, left  the  whole  embassy  crippled  and  enfeebled. 

But  if  deserved  honors  have  been  paid  to  any  embassador 
after  death,  there  is  no  one  by  whom  they  can  be  found  to 
have  been  ever  more  fully  deserved  than  by  Servius  Sulpicius. 
The  rest  of  those  men  who  have  died  while  engaged  on  an 
embassy,  have  gone  forth,  subject  indeed  to  the  usual  uncer- 

1  Sulpicius  was  of  about  the  same  age  as  Cicero,  and  an  early  friend 
of  his,  and  he  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being  the  first  lawyer  of  his  time, 
or  of  all  who  ever  had  studied  law  as  a  profession  in  Rome. 


424  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tainties  of  life,  but  without  any  especial  danger  or  fear  of 
death.  Servius  Sulpicius  set  out  with  some  hope  indeed  of 
reaching  Antonius,  but  with  none  of  returning.  But  though 
he  was  so  very  ill  that  if  any  exertion  were  added  to  his  bad 
state  of  health,  he  would  have  no  hope  of  himself,  still  he  did 
not  refuse  to  try,  even  while  at  his  last  gasp,  to  be  of  some 
service  to  the  republic.  Therefore  neither  the  severity  of  the 
winter,  nor  the  snow,  nor  the  length  of  the  journey,  nor  the 
badness  of  the  roads,  nor  his  daily  increasing  illness,  delayed 
him.  And  when  he  had  arrived  where  he  might  meet  and 
confer  with  the  man  to  whom  he  had  been  sent,  he  departed 
this  life  in  the  midst  of  his  care  and  consideration  as  to  how 
he  might  best  discharge  the  duty  which  he  had  undertaken. 

As  therefore,  O  Caius  Pansa,  you  have  done  well  in  other 
respects,  so  you  have  acted  admirably  in  exhorting  us  this 
day  to  pay  honor  to  Servius  Sulpicius,  and  in  yourself  making 
an  eloquent  oration  in  his  praise.  And  after  the  speech  which 
we  have  heard  from  you,  I  should  have  been  content  to  say 
nothing  beyond  barely  giving  my  vote,  if  I  did  not  think  it 
necessary  to  reply  to  Publius  Servilius,  who  has  declared  his 
opinion  that  this  honor  of  a  statue  ought  to  be  granted  to  no 
one  who  has  not  been  actually  slain  with  a  sword  while  per- 
forming the  duties  of  his  embassy.  But  I,  O  conscript  fathers, 
consider  that  this  was  the  feeling  of  our  ancestors,  that  they 
considered  that  it  was  the  cause  of  death,  and  not  the  manner 
of  it,  which  was  a  proper  subject  for  inquiry.  In  fact,  they 
thought  fit  that  a  monument  should  be  erected  to  any  man 
whose  death  was  caused  by  an  embassy,  in  order  to  tempt 
men  in  perilous  wars  to  be  the  more  bold  in  undertaking  the 
office  of  an  embassador.  What  we  ought  to  do,  therefore,  is, 
not  to  scrutinize  the  precedents  afforded  by  our  ancestors,  but 
to  explain  their  intentions  from  which  the  precedents  them- 
selves arose. 

II.  Lar  Tolumnius,  the  king  of  Veii,  slew  four  embassadors 
of  the  Roman  people,  at  Fidenae,  whose  statues  were  standing 
in  the  rostra  till  within  my  recollection.  The  honor  was  well 
deserved.  For  our  ancestors  gave  those  men  who  had  en- 
countered death  in  the  cause  of  the  republic  an  imperishable 
memory  in  exchange  for  this  transitory  life.  We  sec  in  the 
rostra  the  statue  of  Cnauis  Octavius,  an  illustrious  and  great 
man,  the  first  man  who  brought  the  consulship  into  that 
family,  which  afterward  abounded  in  illustrious  men.      There 


THE  NINTH  PHILIPPIC  425 

was  no  one  then  who  envied  him,  because  he  was  a  new  man  ,* 
there  was  no  one  who  did  not  honor  his  virtue.  But  yet 
the  embassy  of  Octavius  was  one  in  which  there  was  no 
suspicion  of  clanger.  For  having  been  sent  by  the  senate  to 
investigate  the  dispositions  of  kings  and  of  free  nations,  and 
especially  to  forbid  the  grandson  of  king  Antiochus,  the  one 
who  had  carried  on  war  against  our  forefathers,  to  maintain 
fleets  and  to  keep  elephants,  he  was  slain  at  Laodicea,  in  the 
gymnasium,  by  a  man  of  the  name  of  Leptines.  On  this  a 
statue  was  given  to  him  by  our  ancestors  as  a  recompense  for 
his  life,  which  might  ennoble  his  progeny  for  many  years,  and 
which  is  now  the  only  memorial  left  of  so  illustrious  a  family. 
But  in  his  case,  and  in  that  of  Tullus  Cluvius,1  and  Lucius 
Roscius,  and  Spurius  Antius,  and  Caius  Fulcinius,  who  were 
slain  by  the  king  of  Yeii,  it  was  not  the  blood  that  was  shed 
at  their  death,  but  the  death  itself  which  was  encountered  in 
the  service  of  the  republic,  which  was  the  cause  of  their  being 
thus  honored. 

III.  Therefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  if  it  had  been  chance 
which  had  caused  the  death  of  Servius  Sulpicius,  I  should 
sorrow  indeed  over  such  a  loss  to  the  republic,  but  I  should 
consider  him  deserving  of  the  honor,  not  of  a  monument,  but 
of  a  public  mourning.  But,  as  it  is,  who  is  there  who  doubts 
that  it  was  the  embassy  itself  which  caused  his  death  ?  For 
he  took  death  away  with  him ;  though,  if  he  had  remained 
among  us,  his  own  care,  and  the  attention  of  his  most  excel- 
lent son  and  his  most  faithful  wife,  might  have  warded  it  off. 
But  he,  as  he  saw  that,  if  he  did  not  obey  your  authority,  he 
should  not  be  acting  like  himself;  but  that  if  he  did  obey, 
then  that  duty,  undertaken  for  the  welfare  of  the  republic, 
would  be  the  end  of  his  life ;  preferred  dying  at  a  most  crit- 
ical period  of  the  republic,  to  appearing  to  have  done  less  serv- 
ice to  the  republic  than  he  might  have  done. 

He  had  an  opportunity  of  recruiting  his  strength  and 
taking  care  of  himself  in  many  cities  through  which  his 
journey  lay.  He  was  met  by  the  liberal  invitation  of  many 
entertainers,  as  his  dignity  deserved,  and  the  men  too  who 
were  sent  with  him  exhorted  him  to  take  rest,  and  to  think 
of  his  own  health.  But  he,  refusing  all  delay,  hastening 
on,  eager  to  perform  your  commands,  persevered  in  this  his 
constant  purpose,  in  spite  of  the  hindrances  of  bis  JLljuess. 
1   There  is  some  corruption  of  the  text  bere- 


42G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

And  as  Antonius  was  above  all  things  disturbed  by  his  arrival, 
because  the  commands  which  were  laid  upon  him  by  your 
orders  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  authority  and  wisdom  of 
Servius  Sulpicius,  he  showed  plainly  how  he  hated  the  senate 
by  the  evident  joy  which  he  displayed  at  the  death  of  the  ad- 
viser of  the  senate. 

Leptines  then  did  not  kill  Octavius,  nor  did  the  king  of 
Veii  slay  those  whom  I  have  just  named,  mere  clearly  than 
Antonius  killed  Servius  Sulpicius.  Surely  he  brought  the 
man  death,  who  was  the  cause  of  his  death.  Wherefore,  I 
think  it  of  consequence,  in  order  that  posterity  may  recollect 
it,  that  there  should  be  a  record  of  what  the  judgment  of  the 
senate  was  concerning  this  war.  For  the  statue  itself  will  be 
a  witness  that  the  war  was  so  serious  a  one,  that  the  death 
of  an  embassador  in  it  gained  the  honor  of  an  imperishable 
memorial. 

IV.  But  if,  O  conscript  fathers,  you  would  only  recollect 
the  excuses  alleged  by  Servius  Sulpicius  why  he  should  not 
be  appointed  to  this  embassy,  then  no  doubt  will  be  left  on 
your  minds  that  we  ought  to  repair  by  the  honor  paid  to  the 
dead  the  injury  which  we  did  to  him  while  living.  For  it  is 
you,  O  conscript  fathers  (it  is  a  grave  charge  to  make,  but  it 
must  be  uttered),  it  is  you,  I  say,  who  have  deprived  Servius 
Sulpicius  of  life.  For  when  you  saw  him  pleading  his  illness 
as  an  excuse  more  by  the  truth  of  the  fact  than  by  any  labored 
plea  of  words,  you  were  not  indeed  cruel  (for  what  can  be 
more  impossible  for  this  order  to  be  guilty  of  than  that),  but 
as  you  hoped  that  there  was  nothing  that  could  not  be  accom- 
plished by  his  authority  and  wisdom,  you  opposed  his  excuse 
with  great  earnestness,  and  compelled  the  man,  who  had  al- 
ways thought  your  decisions  of  the  greatest  weight,  to  abandon 
his  own  opinion.  But  when  there  was  added  the  exhortation 
of  Pansa,.the  consul,  delivered  with  more  weight  than  the  ears 
of  Servius  Sulpicius  had  learned  to  resist,  then  at  last  he  led  me 
and  his  own  son  aside,  and  said  that  he  was  bound  to  prefer 
your  authority  to  his  own  life.  And  we,  admiring  his  virtue, 
did  not  dare  to  oppose  his  determination.  His  son  was  moved 
with  extraordinary  piety  and  affection,  and  my  own  grief  did 
not  fall  far  short  of  his  agitation  ;  but  each  of  us  was  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  his  greatness  of  mind,  and  to  the  dignity  of  his, 
language,  when  he,  indeed,  amid  the  loud  praises  and  congrat-51 
illations  of  you  all,  promised  to  do  whatever  you  wished,  and 


THE  NINTH  PHILIPPIC.  427 

not  to  avoid  the  danger  which  might  be  incurred  by  the  adop- 
tion of  the  opinion  of  which  he  himself  had  been  tiie  author. 
And  we  the  next  day  escorted  him  early  in  the  morning  as  he 
hastened  forth  to  execute  your  commands.  And  he,  in  truth, 
when  departing,  spoke  with  me  in  such  a  manner  that  his  lan- 
guage seemed  like  an  omen  of  his  fate. 

V.  Restore  then,  O  conscript  fathers,  life  to  him  from  whom 
you  have  taken  it.  For  the  life  of  the  dead  consists  in  the 
recollection  cherished  of  them  by  the  living.  Take  ye  care 
that  he,  whom  you  without  intending  it  sent  to  his  death, 
shall  from  you  receive  immortality.  And  if  you  by  your  de- 
cree erect  a  statue  to  him  in  the  rostra,  no  forgetfulness  of 
posterity  will  ever  obscure  the  memoiy  of  his  embassy.  For 
the  remainder  of  the  life  of  Servius  Sulpicius  will  be  recom- 
mended to  the  eternal  recollection  of  all  men  by  many  and 
splendid  memorials.  The  praise  of  all  mortals  will  forever 
celebrate  his  wisdom,  his  firmness,  his  lovaltv.  his  admirable 
vigilance  and  prudence  in  upholding  the  interests  of  the  pub- 
lic. Nor  will  that  admirable,  and  incredible,  and  almost  god- 
like skill  of  his  in  interpreting  the  laws  and  explaining  the 
principles  of  equity  be  buried  in  silence.  If  all  the  men  of 
all  ages,  who  have  ever  had  any  acquaintance  with  the  law 
in  this  city,  were  got  together  into  one  place,  they  would  not 
deserve  to  be  compared  to  Servius  Sulpicius.  Xor  was  he 
more  skillful  in  explaining  the  law  than  in  laying  down  the 
principles  of  justice.  Those  maxims  which  were  derived  from 
laws,  and  from  the  common  law,  he  constantly  referred  to  the 
original  principles  of  kindness  and  equity.  Xor  was  he  more 
fond  of  arranging  the  conduct  of  lawsuits  than  of  prevent- 
ing disputes  altogether.  Therefore  he  is  not  in  want  of  this 
memorial  which  a  statue  will  provide ;  he  has  other  and  bet- 
ter ones.  For  this  statue  will  be  only  a  witness  of  his  honor- 
able death ;  those  actions  will  be  the  memorial  of'  his  glori- 
ous life.  So  that  this  will  be  rather  a  monument  of  the  grat- 
itude of  the  senate,  than  of  the  glory  of  the  man. 

The  affection  of  the  son,  too,  will  appear  to  have  great 
influence  in  moving;  us  to  honor  the  father ;  for  although, 
being  overwhelmed  with  grief,  he  is  not  present,  still  you 
ought  to  be  animated  with  the  same  feelings  as  if  he  were 
present.  But  he  is  in  such  distress,  that  no  father  ever  sor- 
rowed more  over  the  loss  of  an  only  son  than  he  grieves  for 
the  death  of  his  father.     Indeed,  I  think  that  it  concerns  also 


428  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  fame  of  Servius  Sulpicius  the  son,  that  he  should  appear 
to  have  paid  all  due  respect  to  his  father.  Although  Servius 
Sulpicius  could  leave  no  nobler  monument  behind  him  than 
his  son,  the  image  of  his  own  manners,  and  virtues,  and  wis- 
dom, and  piety,  and  genius ;  whose  grief  can  either  be  allevi- 
ated by  this  honor  paid  to  his  father  by  you,  or  by  no  conso- 1 
lation  at  all. 

VI.  But  when  I  recollect  the  many  conversations  which 
in  the  days  of  our  intimacy  on  earth  I  have  had  with  Servius 
Sulpicius,  it  appears  to  me,  that  if  there  be  any  feeling  in 
the  dead,  a  brazen  statue,  and  that  too  a  pedestrian  one,  will  | 
be  more  acceptable  to  him  than  a  gilt  equestrian  one,  such  as 
was  first  erected  to  Lucius  Sylla.  For  Servius  was  wonder- 
fully attached  to  the  moderation  of  our  forefathers,  and  was 
accustomed  to  reprove  the  insolence  of  this  age.  As  if,  there- 
fore, I  were  able  to  consult  himself  as  to  what  he  would  wish, 
so  I  give  my  vote  for  a  pedestrian  statue  of  brass,  as  if  I 
were  speaking  by  his  authority  and  inclination ;  which  by 
the  honor  of  the  memorial  will  diminish  and  mitigate  the 
great  grief  and  regret  of  his  fellow-citizens.  And  it  is  certain 
that  this  my  opinion,  O  conscript  fathers,  will  be  approved  of 
by  the  opinion  of  Publius  Servilius,  who  has  given  his  vote 
that  a  sepulchre  be  publicly  decreed  to  Servius  Sulpicius,  but 
has  voted  against  the  statue.  For  if  the  death  of  an  embas- 
sador happening  without  bloodshed  and  violence  requires  no 
honor,  why  does  he  vote  for  the  honor  of  a  public  funeral, 
which  is  the  greatest  honor  that  can  be  paid  to  a  dead  man  ? 
If  he  grants  that  to  Servius  Sulpicius  which  was  not  given 
to  Cnams  Octavius,  why  does  he  think  that  we  ought  not  to 
give  to  the  former  what  was  given  to  the  latter  \  Our  ances- 
tors, indeed,  decreed  statues  to  many  men  ;  public  sepulchres 
to  few.  But  statues  perish  by  weather,  by  violence,  by  lapse 
of  time  ;  but  the  sanctity  of  the  sepulchres  is  in  the  soil  itself, 
which  can  neither  be  moved  nor  destroyed  by  any  violence ; 
and  while  other  things  are  extinguished,  so  sepulchres  become 
holier  by  age. 

Let,  then,  that  man  be  distinguished  by  that  honor  also,  a 
man  to  whom  no  honor  can  be  given  which  is  not  deserved. 
Let  us  be  grateful  in  paying  respect  in  death  to  him  to  whom 
we  can  now  show  no  other  gratitude.  And  by  that  same 
step  let  the  audacity  of  Marcus  Antonius,  waging  a  nefarious 
war,  be  branded  with  infamy.     For  when  these  honors  have 


/J> 


THE  NINTH  PHILIPPIC.  429 

been  paid  to  Servius  Sulpicius,  the  evidence  of  his  embassy 
having  been  insulted  and  rejected  by  Antonius  will  remain  for 
everlasting. 

YII.  On  which  account  I  give  my  vote  for  a  decree  in  this 
form :  "As  Servius  Sulpicius  Rufus,  the  son  of  Quintus,  of  the 
Lemonian  tribe,  at  a  most  critical  period  of  the  republic,  and 
being  ill  with  a  very  serious  and  dangerous  disease,  preferred 
the  authority  of  the  senate  and  the  safety  of  the  republic  to 
his  own  life,  and  struggled  against  the  violence  and  severity 
of  his  illness,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  camp  of  Antonius,  to 
which  the  senate  had  sent  him ;  and  as  he,  when  he  had  al- 
most arrived  at  the  camp,  being  overwhelmed  by  the  violence 
of  the  disease,  has  lost  his  life  in  discharging  a  most  import- 
ant office  of  the  republic ;  and  as  his  death  has  been  in  strict 
correspondence  to  a  life  passed  with  the  greatest  integrity  and 
honor,  during  which  he,  Servius  Sulpicius,  has  often  been  of 
great  service  to  the  republic,  both  as  a  private  individual  and 
in  the  discharge  of  various  magistracies ;  and  as  he,  being  such 
a  man,  has  encountered  death  on  behalf  of  the  republic  while 
employed  on  an  embassy ; — the  senate  decrees  that  a  brazen 
pedestrian  statue  of  Servius  Sulpicius  be  erected  in  the  rostra 
in  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  this  order,  and  that  his 
children  and  posterity  shall  have  a  place  round  this  statue 
of  five  feet  in  every  direction,  from  which  to  behold  the  games 
and  gladiatorial  combats,  because  he  died  in  the  cause  of  the 
republic;  and  that  this  reason  be  inscribed  on  the  pedestal  of 
the  statue ;  and  that  Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius  the  con- 
suls, one  or  both  of  them,  if  it  seem  good  to  them,  shall  com- 
mand the  quaestors  of  the  city  to  let  out  a  contract  for  niak-  i 
ing  that  pedestal  and  that  statue,  and  erecting  them  in  the 
rostra ;  and  that  whatever  price  they  contract  for,  they  shall 
take  care  the  amount  is  given  and  paid  to  the  contractor ; 
and  as  in  old  times  the  senate  has  exerted  its  authority  with 
respect  to  the  obsequies  of,  and  honors  paid  to  brave  men,  it 
now  decrees  that  he  shall  be  carried  to  the  tomb  on  the  day 
of  his  funeral  with  the  greatest  possible  solemnity.  And  as// 
Servius  Sulpucius  Rufus,  the  son  of  Quintus  of  the  Lemonian 
tribe,  has  deserved  so  well  of  the  republic  as  to  be  entitled  to 
be  complimented  with  all  those  distinctions ;  the  senate  is  of 
opinion,  and  thinks  it  for  the  advantage  of  the  republic,  that 
the  consule  aedile  should  suspend  the  edict  which  usually  pre- 
vails with  respect  to  funerals  in  the  case  of  the  funeral  of 


430  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Scrvius  Sulpicius  Rufus,  the  son  of  Quintus  of  the  Lemonian 
tribe ;  and  that  Caius  Pansa,  the  consul,  shall  assign  him  a 
place  for  a  tomb  in  the  Esquiline  plain,  or  in  whatever  place 
shall  seem  good  to  him,  extending  thirty  feet  in  every  direc- 
tion, where  Servius  Sulpicius  may  be  buried;  and  that  that 
shall  be  his  tomb,  and  that  of  his  children  and  posterity,  as 
having  been  a  tomb  most  deservedly  given  to  them  by  the 
public  authority." 


THE  TENTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MARCUS 

ANTONIUS. 

CALLED  ALSO  THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Soon  after  the  delivery  of  the  last  speech,  dispatches  were  received  from 
Brutus  by  the  consuls,  giving  an  account  of  his  success  against  Caius 
Antonius  in  Macedonia ;  stating  that  he  had  secured  Macedonia,  Illyr- 
icum,  and  Greece,  with  the  armies  in  those  countries  ;  that  Caius  An- 
tonius had  retired  to  Apollonia  with  seven  cohorts  ;  that  a  legion  under 
Lucius  Piso  had  surrendered  to  young  Cicero,  who  was  commanding 
his  cavalry  ;  that  Dolabella's  cavalry  had  deserted  to  him  ;  and  that  Ya- 
tinius  had  surrendered  Dyrrachium  and  its  garrison  to  him.  He  like- 
wise praised  Quintus  Hortensius,  the  proconsul  of  Macedonia,  as  hav- 
ing assisted  him  in  gaining  over  the  Grecian  provinces  and  the  armies 
in  those  districts. 

As  soon  as  Pansa  received  the  dispatches,  he  summoned  the  senate  to 
have  them  read  ;  and  in  a  set  speech  greatly  extolled  Brutus,  and 
moved  a  vote  of  thanks  to  him  ;  but  Calenus,  who  followed  him,  de- 
clared his  opinion  that  as  Brutus  had  acted  without  any  public  commis- 
sion or  authority,  he  should  be  required  to  give  up  his  army  to  the 
proper  governors  of  the  provinces,  or  to  whoever  the  senate  should  ap- 
point to  receive  it.  After  he  had  sat  down,  Cicero  rose,  and  delivered 
the  following  speech. 

I.  We  all,  O  Pansa,  ought  both  to  feel  and  to  show  the 
greatest  gratitude  to  you,  who, — though  we  did  not  expect 
that  you  would  hold  any  senate  to-day, — the  moment  that 
you  received  the  letters  of  Marcus  Brutus,  that  most  excellent 
citizen,  did  not  interpose  oven  the  slightest  delay  to  our  en- 
joying the  most  excessive  delight  and  mutual  congratulation 
at  the  earliest  opportunity.  And  not  only  ought  this  action 
of  yours  to  be  grateful  to  us  all,  but   also  the  speech   which 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  431 

you  addressed  to  us  after  the  letters  had  been  read.  For  you 
showed  plainly,  that  that  was  true  which  I  have  always  felt 
to  be  so,  that  no  one  envied  the  virtue  of  another  who  was 
confident  of  his  own.  Therefore  I,  who  have  been  connected 
with  Brutus  by  many  mutual  good  offices  and  by  the  greatest 
intimacy,  need  not  say  so  much  concerning  him ;  for  the  part 
that  I  had  marked  out  for  myself  your  speech  has  anticipated 
me  in.  Butr  O  conscript  fathers,  the  opinion  delivered  by 
the  man  who  was  asked  for  his  vote  before  me,  has  imposed 
upon  me  the  necessity  of  saying  rather  more  than  I  otherwise 
should  have  said;  and  I  differ  from  him  so  repeatedly  at 
present,  that  I  am  afraid  (what  certainly  ought  not  to  be  the 
case)  that  our  continual  disagreement  may  appear  to  diminish 
our  friendship. 

What  can  be  the  meaning  of  this  argument  of  yours,  O  Ca- 
lenus  ?  what  can  be  your  intention?  How  is  it  that  you  have 
never  once  since  the  first  of  January  been  of  the  same  opinion 
with  him  who  asks  you  your  opinion  first  1  How  is  it  that 
the  senate  has  never  yet  been  so  full  as  to  enable  you  to  find 
one  single  person  to  agree  with  your  sentiments  ?  Why  are 
you  always  defending  men  who  in  no  point  resemble  you? 
why,  when  both  your  life  and  your  fortune  invite  you  to  tran- 
quillity and  dignity,  do  you  approve  of  those  measures,  and 
defend  those  measures,  and  declare  those  sentiments,  which 
are  adverse  both  to  the  general  tranquillity  and  to  your  own 
individual  dignity  ? 

II.  For  to  say  nothing  of  former  speeches  of  yours,  at  all 
events  I  can  not  pass  over  in  silence  this  which  excites  my 
most  especial  wonder.  What  war  is  there  between  you  and 
the  Bruti  ?  Why  do  you  alone  attack  those  men  whom  we 
are  all  bound  almost  to  worship?  Why  are  you  not  indig- 
nant at  one  of  them  being  besieged,  and  why  do  you — as  far 
as  your  vote  goes — strip  the  other  of  those  troops  which  by 
his  own  exertions  and  by  his  own  danger  he  has  got  together 
by  himself,  without  any  one  to  assist  him,  for  the  protection 
of  the  republic,  not  for  himself?  What  is  your  meaning  in 
this?  What  are  your  intentions?  Is  it  possible  that  you 
should  not  approve  of  the  Bruti,  and  should  approve  of  An- 
tonius  ?  that  you  should  hate  those  men  whom  every  one 
else  considers  most  dear  ?  and  that  you  should  love  with  the 
greatest  constancy  those  whom  every  one  else  hates  most  bit- 
terly ?      You  have  a  most  ample  fortune  ;  you  are  in  the  high- 


432  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

est  rank  of  honor  ;  your  son,  as  I  both  hear  and  hope,  is 
born  to  glory, — a  youth  whom  I  favor  not  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  republic,  but  for  your  sake  also.  I  ask,  therefore, 
would  you  rather  have  him  like  Brutus  or  like  Antonius? 
and  I  will  let  you  choose  whichever  of  the  three  Antonii  you 
please.  God  forbid  !  you  will  say.  Why,  then,  do  you  not 
favor  those  men  and  praise  those  men  whom  you  wish  your 
own  son  to  resemble'?  For  by  so  doing  you  will  be  both  con- 
sulting the  interests  of  the  republic,  and  proposing  him  an 
example  for  his  imitation. 

But  in  this  instance,  I  hope,  O  Quintus  Fufius,  to  be  al- 
lowed to  expostulate  with  you,  as  a  senator  who  greatly  dif- 
fers from  you,  without  any  prejudice  to  our  friendship.  For 
you  spoke  in  this  matter,  and  that  too  from  a  written  paper ; 
for  I  should  think  you  had  made  a  slip  from  want  of  some 
appropriate  expression,  if  I  were  not  acquainted  with  your 
ability  in  speaking.  You  said  "that  the  letters  of  Brutus 
appeared  properly  and  regularly  expressed."  What  else  is 
this  than  praising  Brutus's  secretary,  not  Brutus'?  You  both 
ought  to  have  great  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  republic, 
and  you  have.  When  did  you  ever  see  a  decree  framed  in 
this  manner?  or  in  what  resolution  of  the  seiuue  passed  on 
such  occasions  (and  they  are  innumerable),  did  you  ever  hear 
of  its  being  decreed  that  the  letters  had  been  Avell  drawn 
up?  And  that  expression  did  not — as  is  often  the  case  with 
other  men  —  fall  from  you  by  chance,  but  you  brought  it 
with  you  written  down,  deliberated  on,  and  carefully  medi- 
tated on. 

III.  If  any  one  could  take  from  you  this  habit  of  dispar- 
aging good  men  on  almost  every  occasion,  then  what  qualities 
would  not  be  left  to  you  which  every  one  would  desire  for 
himself?  Do,  then,  recollect  yourself;  do  at  last  soften  and 
quiet  that  disposition  of  yours;  do  take  the  advice  of  good 
men,  with  many  of  whom  you  are  intimate  ;  do  converse  with 
that  wisest  of  men,  your  own  son-in-law,  oftener  than  with 
yourself;  and  then  you  will  obtain  the  name  of  a  man  of  the 
^ery  highest  character.  Do  you  think  it  a  matter  of  no  con- 
sequence (it  is  a  matter  in  which  I,  out  of  the  friendship 
which  I  feel  for  you,  constantly  grieve  in  your  stead),  that  this 
should  be  commonly  said  out  of  doors,  and  should  be  a  com- 
mon topic  of  conversation  among  the  Roman  people,  that  the 
man  who  delivered  his  opinion  first  did  not  find  a  single  per- 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  433 

son  to  agree  with  him  ?     And  that  I  think  will  be  the  case 
to-day. 

You  propose  to  take  the  legions  away  from  Brutus : — which 
legions'?  Why,  those  which  he  has  gained  over  from  the 
wickedness  of  Caius  Antonius,  and  has  by  his  own  authority 
gained  over  to  the  republic.  Do  you  wish  then  that  he  should 
again  appear  to  be  the  only  person  strijDped  of  his  authority, 
and  as  it  were  banished  by  the  senate?  And  you,  O  con- 
script fathers,  if  you  abandon  and  betray  Marcus  Brutus, 
what  citizen  in  the  world  will  you  ever  distinguish  ?  "Whom 
will  you  ever  favor1?  Unless,  indeed,  you  think  that  those 
men  who  put  a  diadem  on  a  man's  head  deserve  to  be  pre- 
served, and  those  who  have  abolished  the  very  name  of  kingly 
power  deserve  to  be  abandoned.  And  of  this  divine  and  im- 
mortal glory  of  Marcus  Brutus  I  will  say  no  more  ;  it  is  al- 
ready embalmed  in  the  grateful  recollection  of  all  the  citizens, 
but  it  has  not  yet  been  sanctioned  by  any  formal  act  of  pub- 
lic authority.  Such  patience  !  O  ye  good  gods !  such  modera- 
tion !  such  tranquillity  and  submission  under  injury !  A  ma» 
who,  while  he  was  praetor  of  the  city,  was  driven  from  the 
city,  was  prevented  from  sitting  as  judge  in  legal  proceedings, 
when  it  was  he  who  had  restored  all  law  to  the  republic ;  and, 
though  he  might  have  been  hedged  round  by  the  daily  con- 
course of  all  virtuous  men,  who  were  constantly  flocking  round 
him  in  marvelous  numbers,  he  preferred  to  be  defended  in  his 
absence  by  the  judgment  of  the  good,  to  being  present  and 
protected  by  their  force ; — who  was  not  even  present  to  cele- 
brate the  games  to  Apollo,  which  had  been  prepared  in  a  man- 
ner suitable  to  his  own  dignity  and  to  that  of  the  Roman 
people,  lest  he  should  open  any  road  to  the  audacity  of  most 
wicked  men. 

IV.  Although,  what  games  or  what  days  were  ever  more 
joyful  than  those  on  which  at  every  verse  that  the  actor  utter- 
ed, the  Roman  people  did  honor  to  the  memory  of  Brutus, 
with  loud  shouts  of  applause1?  The  person  of  their  liberator 
was  absent,  the  recollection  of  their  liberty  was  present,  in 
which  the  appearance  of  Brutus  himself  seemed  to  be  visible. 
But  the  man  himself  I  beheld  on  those  very  days  of  the  games, 
in  the  country-house  of  a  most  illustrious  young  man,  Lucul- 
lus,  his  relation,  thinking  of  nothing  but  the  peace  and  con- 
cord of  the  citizens.  I  saw  him  again  afterward  at  Velia, 
departing  from  Italy,  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  pretext 

T 


434  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

for  civil  war  on  his  account.  Oh  what  a  sight  was  that! 
grievous,  not  only  to  men  but  to  the  very  waves  and  shores. 
That  its  savior  should  be  departing  from  his  country  ;  that  its 
destroyers  should  be  remaining  in  their  country !  The  fleet  of 
Cassius  followed  a  few  days  afterward  ;  so  that  I  was  ashamed, 
O  conscript  fathers,  to  return  into  the  city  from  which  those 
men  were  departing.  But  the  design  with  which  I  returned 
you  heard  at  the  beginning,  and  since  that  you  have  known 
by  experience.  Brutus,  therefore,  bided  his  time.  For,  as  long 
as  he  saw  you  endure  every  thing,  he  himself  behaved  with 
incredible  patience ;  after  that  he  saw  you  roused  to  a  desire 
of  liberty,  he  prepared  the  means  to  protect  you  in  your  liberty. 

But  what  a  pest,  and  how  great  a  pest  was  it  which  he  re- 
sisted "1  For  if  Caius  Antonius  had  been  able  to  accomplish 
what  he  intended  in  his  mind  (and  he  would  have  been  able 
to  do  so  if  the  virtue  of  Marcus  Brutus  had  not  opposed  his 
wickedness),  we  should  have  lost  Macedonia,  Illyricum,  and 
Greece.  Greece  would  have  been  a  refuge  for  Antonius  if 
defeated,  or  a  support  to  him  in  attacking  Italy ;  which  at 
present,  being  not  only  arrayed  in  arms,  but  embellished  by  the 
military  command  and  authority  and  troops  of  Marcus  Bru- 
tus, stretches  out  her  right  hand  to  Italy,  and  promises  it  her 
protection.  And  the  man  who  proposes  to  deprive  him  of 
his  army,  is  taking  away  a  most  illustrious  honor,  and  a  most 
trustworthy  guard  from  the  republic.  I  wish,  indeed,  that 
Antonius  may  hear  this  news  as  speedily  as  possible,  so  that 
he  may  understand  that  it  is  not  Decimus  Brutus  whom  he 
is  surrounding  with  his  ramparts,  but  he  himself  who  is  really 
hemmed  in. 

V.  He  possesses  three  towns  only  on  the  whole  face  of  the 
earth.  He  has  Gaul  most  bitterly  hostile  to  him  ;  he  has 
even  those  men  the  people  beyond  the  Fo,  in  whom  he  placed 
the  greatest  reliance,  entirely  alienated  from  him  ;  all  Italy 
is  his  enemy.  Foreign  nations,  from  the  nearest  coast  of 
Greece  to  Egypt,  are  occupied  by  the  military  command  and 
armies  of  most  virtuous  and  intrepid  citizens.  His  only  hope 
was  in  Caius  Antonius ;  who  being  in  age  the  middle  one  be- 
tween his  two  brothers,  rivaled  both  of  them  in  vices.  He 
hastened  away  as  if  he  were  being  driven  away  by  the  senate 
into  Macedonia,  not  as  if  he  were  prohibited  from  proceeding 
thither.  What  a  storm,  O  ye  immortal  gods!  what  a  con- 
flagration !   what  a  devastation!   what  a  pestilence  to  Greece 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  435 

would  that  man  have  been,  if  incredible  and  godlike  virtue 
had  not  checked  the  enterprise  and  audacity  of  that  frantic 
man.  What  promptness  was  there  in  Brutus's  conduct !  what 
prudence!  what  valor!  Although  the  rapidity  of  the  move- 
ment of  Caius  Antonius  also  is  not  despicable ;  for  if  some 
vacant  inheritances  had  not  delayed  him  on  his  march,  you 
might  have  said  that  he  had  flown  rather  than  traveled. 
When  we  desire  other  men  to  go  forth  to  undertake  any 
public  business,  we  are  scarcely  able  to  get  them  out  of  the 
city ;  but  we  have  driven  this  man  out  by  the  mere  fact  of 
our  desiring  to  retain  him.  But  what  business  had  he  with. 
Apollonia  ?  what  business  had  he  with  Dyrrachium  ?  or  with 
Illyricum?  "What  had  he  to  do  with  the  army  of  Publius 
Vatinius,  our  general?  He,  as  he  said  himself,  was  the  suc- 
cessor of  Hortensius.  The  boundaries  of  Macedonia  are  well 
defined ;  the  condition  of  the  proconsul  is  well  known ;  the 
amount  of  his  army,  if  he  has  any  at  all,  is  fixed.  But  what 
had  Antonius  to  do  at  all  with  Illyricum  and  with  the  legions 
of  Vatinius  ? 

But  Brutus  had  nothing  to  do  with  them  either.  For  that, 
perhaps,  is  what  some  worthless  man  may  say-  All  the  le> 
gions,  all  the  forces  which  exist  any  where,  belong  to  the  Ro- 
man people.  Nor  shall  those  legions  which  have  quitted  Mar" 
cus  Antonius  be  called  the  legions  of  Antonius  rather  than  of 
the  republic;  for  he  loses  all  power  over  his  army,  and  all  the 
privileges  of  military  command,  who  uses  that  military  com- 
mand and  that  army  to  attack  the  republic. 

VI.  But  if  the  republic  itself  could  give  a  decision,  or  if 
all  rights  were  established  by  its  decrees,  would  it  adjudge  the 
legions  of  the  Roman  people  to  Antonius  or  to  Brutus?  The 
one  had  flown  with  precipitation  to  the  plunder  and  destruc- 
tion of  the  allies,  in  order,  wherever  he  went,  to  lay  waste, 
and  pillage,  and  plunder  every  thing,  and  to  employ  the  army 
of  the  Roman  people  against  the  Roman  people  itself.  The 
other  had  laid  down  this  law  for  himself,  that  wherever  he 
came  he  should  appear  to  come  as  a  sort  of  light  and  hope  of 
safety.  Lastlv,  the  one  was  seeking  aids  to  overturn  the  re- 
public ;  the  other  to  preserve  it.  Nor,  indeed,  did  we  see  this 
more  clearly  than  the  soldiers  themselves ;  from  whom  so 
much  discernment  in  judging  was  not  to  have  been  expected. 

He  writes,  that  Antonius  is  at  Apollonia  with  seven  co- 
horts, and  he  is  either  by  this  time  taken  prisoner  (may  the 


430  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

gods  grant  it!)  or,  at  all  events,  like  a  modest  man,  he  does 
not  come  near  Macedonia,  lest  he  should  seem  to  act  in  op- 
position to  the  resolution  of  the  senate.  A  levy  of  troops  has 
been  held  in  Macedonia,  by  the  great  zeal  and  diligence  of 
Quint  us  Ilortensius ;  whose  admirable  courage,  worthy  both 
of  himself  and  of  his  ancestors,  you  may  clearly  perceive  from 
the  letters  of  Brutus.  The  legion  which  Lucius  Piso,  the 
lieutenant  of  Antonius,  commanded,  has  surrendered  itself  to 
Cicero,  my  own  son.  Of  the  cavalry,  which  was  being  led 
into  Syria  in  two  divisions,  one  division  has  left  the  quaestor 
who  was  commanding  it,  in  Thessaly,  and  has  joined  Brutus ; 
and  Cnasus  Domitius,  a  young  man  of  the  greatest  virtue  and 
wisdom  and  firmness,  has  carried  off  the  other  from  the  Syrian 
lieutenant  in  Macedonia.  But  Publius  Yatinius,  who  has  be- 
fore this  been  deservedly  praised  by  us,  and  who  is  justly  enti- 
tled to  farther  praise  at  the  present  time,  has  opened  the  gates 
of  Dyrrachium  to  Brutus,  and  has  given  him  up  his  army. 

The  Roman  people  then  is  now  in  possession  of  Macedonia, 
and  niyricum,  and  Greece.  The  legions  there  are  all  devoted 
to  us,  the  light-armed  troops  are  ours,  the  cavalry  is  ours,  and, 
above  all,  Brutus  is  ours,  and  always  will  be  ours — a  man 
born  for  the  republic,  both  by  his  own  most  excellent  virtues, 
and  also  by  some  especial  destiny  of  name  and  family,  both  on 
his  father's  and  on  his  mother's  side. 

VII.  Does  any  one  then  fear  war  from  this  man,  who,  until 
we  commenced  the  war,  being  compelled  to  do  so,  preferred 
lying  unknown  in  peace  to  flourishing  in  war  1  Although  he, 
in  truth,  never  did  lie  unknown,  nor  can  this  expression  pos- 
sibly be  applied  to  such  great  eminence  in  virtue.  For  he  was 
the  object  of  regret  to  the  state  ;  he  was  in  every  one's  mouth, 
the  subject  of  every  one's  conversation.  But  he  was  so  far  re- 
moved from  an  inclination  to  war,  that,  though  he  was  burn- 
ing with  a  desire  to  see  Italy  free,  he  preferred  being  wanting 
to  the  zeal  of  the  citizens,  to  leading  them  to  put  every  thing 
to  the  issue  of  war.  Therefore,  those  very  men,  if  there  be 
any  such,  who  find  fault  with  the  slowness  of  Brutus' s  move- 
ments, nevertheless  at  the  same  time  admire  his  moderation 
and  his  patience. 

But  I  see  now  what  it  is  they  mean  :  nor,  in  truth,  do  they 
use  much  disguise.  They  say  that  they  are  aliraid  how  the 
veterans  may  endure  the  idea  of  Brutus  having  an  army.  As 
if  there  were  any  difference  between  the  troops  of  Aulus  Hip- 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  437 

tlus,  of  Caius  Pansa,  of  Decimus  Brutus,  of  Caius  Caesar,  and 
this  army  of  Marcus  Brutus.  For  if  these  four  armies  which 
I  have  mentioned  are  praised  because  they  have  taken  up 
arms  for  the  sake  of  the  liberty  of  the  Roman  people,  what 
reason  is  there  why  this  army  of  Marcus  Brutus  should  not 
be  classed  under  the  same  head  !  Oh,  but  the  very  name  of 
Marcus  Brutus  is  unpopular  among  the  veterans. — More  than 
that  of  Decimus  Brutus? — I  think  not;  for  although  the  ac. 
tion  is  common  to  both  the  Bruti,  and  although  their  share  in 
the  glory  is  equal,  still  those  men  who  were  indignant  at  that 
deed  were  more  angry  with  Decimus  Brutus,  because  they 
said,  that  it  was  more  improper  for  it  to  be  executed  by  him. 
What  now  are  all  those  armies  laboring  at,  except  to  effect 
the  release  of  Decimus  Brutus  from  a  siege?  And  who  are 
the  commanders  of  those  armies?  Those  men,  I  suppose, 
who  wish  the  acts  of  Caius  Cassar  to  be  overturned,  and  the 
cause  of  the  veterans  to  be  betrayed. 

VIII.   If  Caesar  himself  were  alive,  could  he,  do  you  im- 
agine, defend  his  own  acts  more  vigorously  than  that  most 
gallant  man  Hirtius  defends  them  ?  or,  is  it  possible  that  any 
one  should  be  found  more  friendly  to  the  cause  than  his  son  ? 
But  the  one  of  these,  though  not  long  recovered  from  a  very 
long  attack  of  a  most  severe  disease,  has  applied  all  the  energy 
and  influence  which  he  had  to  defending  the  liberty  of  those 
men  by  whose  prayers  he  considered  that  he  himself  had  been 
recalled  from  death  ;  the  other,  stronger  in  the  strength  of  his 
virtue  than  in  that  of  his  age,  has  set  out  with  those  very 
veterans  to  deliver  Decimus  Brutus.     Therefore,  those  men 
who  are  both  the  most  certain  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
energetic  defenders  of  the  acts  of  Caesar,  are  waging  war  for 
the  safety  of  Decimus  Brutus ;  and  they  are  followed  by  the 
veterans.     For  they  see  that  they  must  fight  to  the  uttermost 
for  the  freedom  of  the  Roman  people,  not  for  their  own  ad- 
vantages.    What  reason,  then,  is  there  why  the  army  of  Mar- 
cus Brutus  should  be  an  object  of  suspicion  to  those  men  who 
with  the  whole  of  their  energies  desire  the  preservation  of 
Decimus  Brutus? 

But,  moreover,  if.  there  were  any  thing  which  were  to  be 
feared  from  Marcus  Brutus,  would  not  Pansa  perceive  it?  Or 
if  he  did  perceive  it,  would  not  he,  too,  be  anxious  about  it  ? 
Who  is  either  more  acute  in  his  conjectures  of  the  future,  or 
more  diligent  in  warding  off  danger?     But  you  have  already 


438  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

seen  his  zeal  for,  and  inclination  toward  Marcus  Brutus.  He 
has  already  told  us  in  his  speech  what  we  ought  to  decree, 
and  how  we  ought  to  feel  with  respect  to  Marcus  Brutus. 
And  he  was  so  far  from  thinking  the  army  of  Marcus  Brutus 
dangerous  to  the  republic,  that  he  considered  it  the  most  im- 
portant and  the  most  trusty  bulwark  of  the  republic.  Either, 
then,  Pansa  does  not  perceive  this  (no  doubt  he  is  a  man  of 
dull  intellect),  or  he  disregards  it.  For  he  is  clearly  not  anx- 
ious that  the  acts  which  Caesar  executed  should  be  ratified, — 
he,  who  in  compliance  with  our  recommendation  is  going  to 
bring  forward  a  bill  at  the  comitia  centuriata  for  sanctioning 
and  confirming  them. 

IX.  Let  those,  then,  who  have  no  fear,  cease  to  pretend  to 
be  alarmed,  and  to  be  exercising  their  foresight  in  the  cause 
of  the  republic.  And  let  those  who  really  are  afraid  of  every 
thing,  cease  to  be  too  fearful,  lest  the  pretense  of  the  one  party 
and  the  inactivity  of  the  other  be  injurious  to  us.  What,  in 
the  name  of  mischief!  is  the  object  of  always  opposing  the 
name  of  the  veterans  to  every  good  cause  ?  For  even  if  I 
were  attached  to  their  virtue,  as  indeed  I  am,  still,  if  they 
were  arrogant  I  should  not  be  able  to  tolerate  their  airs. 
While  we  are  endeavoring  to  break  the  bonds  of  slavery,  shall 
any  one  hinder  us  by  saying  that  the  veterans  do  not  approve 
of  it?  For  they  are  not,  I  suppose,  beyond  all  counting,  who 
are  ready  to  take  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  common  freedom  ! 
There  is  no  man,  except  the  veteran  soldiers,  who  is  stimulated 
by  the  indignation  of  a  freeman  to  repel  slavery  !  Can  the 
republic  then  stand,  relying  wholly  on  veterans,  without  a 
great  reinforcement  of  the  youth  of  the  state  !  AY  horn,  indeed, 
you  ought  to  be  attached  to,  if  they  be  assistants  to  you  in 
the  assertion  of  your  freedom,  but  whom  you  ought  not  to 
follow  if  they  be  the  advisers  of  slavery. 

Lastly  (let  me  at  last  say  one  true  word,  one  word  worthy 
of  myself!) — if  the  inclinations  of  this  order  are  governed  by 
the  nod  of  the  veterans,  and  if  all  our  words  and  actions  are 
to  be  referred  to  their  will,  death  is  what  we  should  wish  for, 
which  has  always,  in  the  minds  of  Roman  citizens,  been  pref- 
erable to  slavery.  All  slavery  is  miserable;  but  some  may 
have  been  unavoidable.  Do  you  think,  then,  that  there  is 
never  to  be  a  beginning  of  our  endeavors  to  recover  our  free- 
dom? Or,  when  we  would  not  bear  that  fortune  which  was 
unavoidable,  and  which  seemed  almost   as  if  appointed  by 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  439 

destiny,  shall  we  tolerate  the  voluntary  bondage  ?  All  Italy 
is  burning  with  a  desire  for  freedom.  The  city  can  not  en- 
dure slavery  any  longer.  We  have  given  this  warlike  attire 
and  these  arms  to  the  Roman  people  much  later  than  they 
have  been  demanded  of  us  by  them. 

X.  We  have,  indeed,  undertaken  our  present  course  of  ac- 
tion with  a  great  and  almost  certain  hope  of  liberty.  But 
even  if  I  allow  that  the  events  of  war  are  uncertain,  and  that 
the  chances  of  Mars  are  common  to  both  sides,  still  it  is  worth 
while  to  fight  for  freedom  at  the  peril  of  one's  life.  For  life 
does  not  consist  wholly  in  breathing ;  there  is  literally  no  life 
at  all  for  one  who  is  a  slave.  All  nations  can  endure  slavery. 
Our  state  can  not.  Nor  is  there  any  other  reason  for  tlii-, 
except  that  those  nations  shrink  from  toil  and  pain,  and  are 
willing  to  endure  any  thing  so  long  as  they  may  be  free  from 
those  evils ;  but  we  have  been  trained  and  bred  up  by  our 
forefathers  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  measure 'all  our  designs 
and  all  our  actions  by  the  standard  of  dignity  and  virtue. 
The  recovery  of  freedom  is  so  splendid  a  thing  that  we  must 
not  shun  even  death  when  seeking  to  recover  it.  But  if  im- 
mortality were  to  be  the  result  of  our  avoidance  of  present 
danger,  still  slavery  would  appear  still  more  worthy  of  being 
avoided,  in  proportion  as  it  is  of  longer  duration.  But  as  all 
sorts  of  death  surround  us  on  all  sides  night  and  day,  it  does 
not  become  a  man,  and  least  of  all  a  Roman,  to  hesitate  to 
give  up  to  his  country  that  breath  which  he  owes  to  nature. 

Men  flock  together  from  all  quarters  to  extinguish  a  general 
conflagration.  The  veterans  were  the  first  to  follow  the  au- 
thority of  Caesar,  and  to  repel  the  attempts  of  Antonius ;  after- 
ward the  Martial  legion  checked  his  phrensy ;  the  fourth  legion 
crushed  it.  Being  thus  condemned  by  his  own  legions,  he 
burst  into  Gaul,  which  he  knew  to  be  adverse  and  hostile  to 
him  both  in  word  and  deed.  The  armies  of  Aulus  Hirtius 
and  Caius  Caesar  pursued  him ;  and  afterward  the  levies  of 
Pansa  roused  the  city  and  all  Italy.  He  is  the  one  enemy  of 
all  men.  Although  he  has  with  him  Lucius  his  brother,  a 
citizen  very  much  beloved  by  the  Roman  people,  the  regret 
for  whose  absence  the  city  is  unable  to  endure  any  longer! 
What  can  be  more  foul  than  that  beast"?  what  more  savage? 
who  appears  born  for  the  express  purpose  of  preventing  Mar- 
cus Antonius  from  being  the  basest  of  all  mortals.  They  have 
with  them  Trebellius,  who,  now  that  all  debts  are  canceled,  is 


440  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

become  reconciled  to  them  ;  and  Titus  Plancus,  and  other  like 
them;  who  are  striving  with  all  their  hearts,  and  whose  sole 
object  is,  to  appear  to  have  been  restored  against  the  will  of 
the  republic.  Saxa  and  Capho,  themselves  rustic  and  clown- 
ish men,  men  who  never  have  seen  and  who  never  wish  to  see 
this  republic  firmly  established,  are  tampering  with  the  igno- 
rant classes ;  men  who  are  not  upholding  the  acts  of  Caesar 
but  those  of  Antonius ;  who  are  led  away  by  the  unlimited  oc- 
cupation of  the  Campanian  district ;  and  who  I  marvel  are  not 
somewhat  ashamed  when  they  see  that  they  have  actors  and 
actresses  for  their  neighbors. 

XI.  Why  then  should  we  be  displeased  that  the  army  of 
Marcus  Brutus  is  thrown  into  the  scale  to  assist  us  in  over- 
whelming these  pests  of  the  commonwealth  ?  It  is  the  army, 
I  suppose,  of  an  intemperate  and  turbulent  man.  I  am  more 
afraid  of  his  being  too  patient ;  although  in  all  the  counsels 
and  actions  of  that  man  there  never  has  been  any  thing  either 
too  much  or  too  little.  The  whole  inclinations  of  Marcus 
Brutus,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  whole  of  his  thoughts,  the 
whole  of  his  ideas,  are  directed  toward  the  authority  of  the 
senate  and  the  freedom  of  the  Eoman  people.  These  are  the 
objects  which  he  proposes  to  himself;  these  are  what  he  de- 
sires to  uphold.  He  has  tried  what  he  could  do  by  patience ; 
as  he  did  nothing,  he  has  thought  it  necessary  to  encounter 
force  by  force.  And,  O  conscript  fathers,  you  ought  at  this 
time  to  grant  him  the  same  honors  which  on  the  nineteenth 
of  December  you  conferred  by  my  advice  on  Decimus  Brutus 
and  Caius  Ca?sar,  whose  designs  and  conduct  in  regard  to  the 
republic,  while  they  also  were  but  private  individuals,  was  ap- 
proved of  and  praised  by  your  authority.  And  you  ought  to 
do  the  same  now  with  respect  to  Marcus  Brutus,  by  whom  an 
unhoped  for  and  sudden  reinforcement  of  legions  and  cavalry, 
and  numerous  and  trusty  bands  of  allies,  have  been  provided 
for  the  republic. 

Quintus  Hortensius  also  ought  to  have  a  share  of  your 
praise,  who,  being  governor  of  Macedonia,  joined  Brutus  as  a 
most  faithful  and  untiring  assistant  in  collecting  that  army. 
For  I  think  that  a  separate  motion  ought  to  be  made  respect- 
ing Marcus  Appuleius,  to  whom  Brutus  bears  witness  in  his 
letters  that  he  has  been  a  prime  assistant  to  him  in  his  endeav- 
ors to  get  together  and  equip  his  army.  And  since  this  is  the 
case, 


THE  TENTH  PHILIPPIC.  441 

"  As  Caius  Pansa  the  consul  has  addressed  to  us  a  speech 
concerning  the  letters  which  have  been  received  from  Quintus 
Caepio  Brutus,1  proconsul,  and  have  been  read  in  this  assem- 
bly, I  give  my  vote  in  this  matter  thus : 

a  Since,  by  the  exertions  and  wisdom  and  industry  and  val- 
or of  Quintus  Caepio  Brutus,  proconsul,  at  a  most  critical  pe- 
riod of  the  republic,  the  province  of  Macedonia,  and  Illyricum, 
and  all  Greece,  and  the  legions  and  armies  and  cavalry,  have 
been  preserved  in  obedience  to  the  consuls  and  senate  and  peo- 
ple of  Koine ;  Quintus  Caepio  Brutus,  proconsul,  has  acted 
well,  and  in  a  manner  advantageous  to  the  republic,  and  suit- 
able to  his  own  dignity  and  to  that  of  his  ancestors,  and  to 
the  principles  according  to  which  alone  the  affairs  of  the  re- 
public can  be  properly  managed ;  and  that  conduct  is  and  will 
be  grateful  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Eome. 

"And  moreover,  as  Quintus  Caepio  Brutus,  proconsul,  is 
occupying  and  defending  and  protecting  the  province  of  Mac- 
edonia, and  Illyricum,  and  all  Greece,  and  is  preserving  them 
in  safety;  and  as  he  is  in  command  of  an  army  which  he 
himself  has  levied  and  collected,  he  is  at  liberty  if  he  has  need 
of  any,  to  exact  money  for  the  use  of  the  military  service, 
which  belongs  to  the  public,  and  can  lawfully  be  exacted,  and 
to  use  it,  and  to  borrow  money  for  the  exigencies  of  the  war 
from  whomsoever  he  thinks  fit,  and  to  exact  corn,  and  to  en- 
deavor to  approach  Italy  as  near  as  he  can  with  his  forces.  , 
And  as  it  has  been  understood  from  the  letters  of  Quintus 
Caepio  Brutus,  proconsul,  that  the  republic  has  been  greatly 
benefited  by  the  energy  and  valor  of  Quintus  Hortensius,  pro- 
consul, and  that  all  his  counsels  have  been  in  harmony  with 
those  of  Quintus  Caepio  Brutus,  proconsul,  and  that  that  har- 
mony has  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  republic ;  Quin- 
tus Hortensius  has  acted  well  and  becomingly,  and  in  a  man- 
ner advantageous  to  the  republic.  And  the  senate  decrees 
that  Quintus  Hortensius,  proconsul,  shall  occupy  the  province 
of  Macedonia  with  his  quaestors,  or  proquaestors  and  lieuten- 
ants, until  he  shall  have  a  successor  regularly  appointed  by  a 
resolution  of  the  senate." 

1  Brutus  had  been  adopted  by  his  maternal  uncle  Quintus  Servilius 
Caepio  ;  so  that  his  legal  designation  was  what  is  given  in  the  text  now, 
as  Cicero  is  proposing  a  formal  vote — though  at  all  other  times  we  see 
that  he  calls  him  Marcus  Brutus. 

T2 


442  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 


THE  ELEVENTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST 

MARCUS  ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    ELEVENTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT- 

A.  short  time  after  the  delivery  of  the  preceding  speech,  news  came  t<j 
Rome  of  Dolabella  (the  colleague  of  j\ntonius)  having  been  very  sue 
cessful  in  Asia.  He  had  left  Rome  before  the  expiration  of  his  con- 
sulship to  take  possession  of  Syria,  which  Antonius  had  contrived  to 
have  allotted  him  ;  and  he  hoped  to  prevail  on  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province  of  Asia  also  to  abandon  Trebonius  (who  had  been  one  of  the 
slayers  of  Caesar,  and  was  governor  of  Asia),  and  submit  to  him.  Tre- 
bonius was  residing  at  Smyrna  ;  and  Dolabella  arrived  before  the  walls 
of  that  town  with  very  few  troops,  requesting  a  free  passage  through 
Trebonius's  province.  Trebonius  refused  to  admit  him  into  the  town, 
but  promised  that  he  would  permit  hiin  to  enter  Epbesus.  Dolabella, 
however,  effected  an  entry  into  Smyrna  by  a  nocturnal  surprise,  and 
seized  Trebonius,  whom  he  murdered  with  great  cruelty. 

As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  event  reached  Rome,  the  consul  summoned 
the  senate,  which  at  once  declared  Dolabella  a  public  enemy,  and  con- 
fiscated his  estate.  Calenus  was  the  mover  of  this  decree.  But  besides 
this  motion  there  was' another  question  to  be  settled,  namely,  who  was 
to  be  appointed  to  conduct  the  war  against  Dolabella.  Some  proposed 
to  send  Publius  Servilius  ;  others,  that  the  two  consuls  should  be  sent, 
and  should  have  the  two  provinces  of  Asia  and  Syria  allotted  to  them  ; 
and  this  last  proposition  Pansa  himself  was  favorable  to  ;  and  it  was 
supported  not  only  by  his  friends,  but  also  by  the  partisans  of  Anto- 
nius, who  thought  it  would  draw  off  the  consuls  from  their  present 
business  of  relieving  Decimus  Brutus.  But  Cicero  thought  that  it 
would  be  an  insult  to  Cassius,  who  was  already  in  those  countries,  to 
supersede  him  as  it  were,  by  sending  any  one  else  to  command  there ; 
and  so  he  exerted  all  his  influence  to  procure  a  decree  intrusting  the 
command  to  him  ;  though  Servilia,  the  mother-in-law  of  Cassius,  and 
other  of  Cassius's  friends,  begged  him  not  to  disoblige  Pansa.  He 
persevered,  however,  and  made  the  following  speech  in  support  of  his 
opinion. 

It  appears  that  Cicero  failed  in  his  proposition  through  the  influence  of 
Pansa;  but  before  any  orders  came  from  Rome,  Cassius  had  defeated 
Dolabella  near  Laodicea,  and  he  killed  himself  to  avoid  failing  into  the 
hands  of  his  conqueror. 

I.  Amid  the  great  grief,  O  conscript  fathers,  or  rather  mis- 
ery which  we  have  suffered  at  the  cruel  and  melancholy  death 
of  Caius  Trebonius,  a  most  virtuous  citizen  and  a  most  mod- 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC  443 

erate  man,  there  is  still  a  circumstance  or  two  in  the  case 
which  I  think  will  turn  out  beneficial  to  the  republic.  For 
we  have  now  thoroughly  seen  what  great  barbarity  these  men 
are  capable  of  who  have  taken  up  wicked  arms  against  their 
country.  For  these  two,  Dolabella  and  Antonius,  are  the 
very  blackest  and  foulest  monsters  that  have  ever  lived  since 
the  birth  of  man  ;  one  of  whom  has  now  done  what  he  wish- 
ed;  and  as  to  the  other,  it  has  been  plainly  shown  what  he 
intended.  Lucius  Cinna  was  cruel ;  Caius  Marias  was  unre- 
lenting in  his  anger ;  Lucius  Sylla  was  fierce ;  but  still  the  in- 
humanity of  none  of  these  men  ever  went  beyond  death ;  and 
that  punishment  indeed  was  thought  too  cruel  to  be  inflicted 
on  citizens. 

Here  now  you  have  a  pair  equal  in  wickedness ;  unprece- 
dented, unheard  of,  savage,  barbarous.  Therefore  those  men 
whose  vehement  mutual  hatred  and  quarrel  you  recollect  a 
short  time  ago,  have  now  been  united  in  singular  unanimity 
and  mutual  attachment  by  the  singularity  of  their  wicked  na- 
tures and  most  infamous  lives.  Therefore,  that  which  Dola- 
bella has  now  done  in  a  case  in  which  he  had  the  power,  An- 
tonius threatens  many  with.  But  the  former,  as  he  was  a 
long  way  from  our  counsels  and  armies,  and  as  he  was  not 
yet  aware  that  the  senate  had  united  with  the  Roman  people, 
relying  on  the  forces  of  Antonius,  has  committed  those  wicked 
actions  which  he  thought  were  already  put  in  practice  at  Rome 
by  his  accomplice  in  wickedness.  What  else  then  do  you  think 
that  this  man  is  contriving  or  wishing,  or  what  other  object 
do  you  think  he  has  in  the  war?  All  of  us  who  have  either 
entertained  the  thoughts  of  freemen  concerning  the  republic, 
or  have  given  utterance  to  opinions  worthy  of  ourselves,  he 
decides  to  be  not  merely  opposed  to  him,  but  actual  enemies. 
And  he  plans'  inflicting  bitterer  punishments  on  us  than  on 
the  enemy ;  he  thinks  death  a  punishment  imposed  by  nature, 
but  torments  and  tortures  the  proper  inflictions  of  anger. 
What  sort  of  enemy  then  must  we  consider  that  man  who,  if 
he  be  victorious,  requires  one  to  think  death  a  kindness  if  he 
spares  one  the  tortures  with  which  it  is  in  his  power  to  ac- 
company it  ? 

II.  Wherefore,  O  conscript  fathers,  although  you  do  not 
need  any  one  to  exhort  you  (for  you  yourself  have  of  your 
own  accord  warmed  up  with  the  desire  of  recovering  your 
freedom),  still  defend,  I  warn  you,  your  freedom  with  so  much 


444  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  more  zeal  and  courage,  in  proportion  as  the  punishments 
of  slavery  with  which  you  see  the  conquered  are  threatened 
are  more  terrible.  Antonius  has  invaded  Gaul ;  Dolabella, 
Asia ;  each  a  province  with  which  he  had  no  business  what- 
ever. Brutus  has  opposed  himself  to  the  one,  and  at  the  peril 
of  his  own  life  has  checked  the  onset  of  that  frantic  man  wish- 
ing to  harass  and  plunder  every  thing,  has  prevented  his  far- 
ther progress,  and  has  cut  him  off  from  his  return.  By  allow- 
ing himself  to  be  besieged  he  has  hemmed  in  Antonius  on  each 
side. 

The  other  has  forced  his  way  into  Asia.  With  what  object? 
If  it  was  merely  to  proceed  into  Syria,  he  had  a  road  open  to 
him  which  was  sure,  and  was  not  long.  What  was  the  need 
of  sending  forward  some  Marsian,  they  call  him  Octavius, 
with  a  legion ;  a  wicked  and  necessitous  robber  ;  a  man  to 
lay  waste  the  lands,  to  harass  the  cities,  not  from  any  hope 
of  acquiring  any  permanent  property,  which  they  who  know 
him  say  that  he  is  unable  to  keep  (for  I  have  not  the  honor 
of  being  acquainted  with  this  senator  myself),  but  just  as 
present  food  to  satisfy  his  indigence?  Dolabella  followed 
him,  without  any  one  having  any  suspicion  of  war.  For  how 
could  any  one  think  of  such  a  thing?  Very  friendly  confer- 
ences with  Trebonius  ensued ;  embraces,  false  tokens  of  the 
greatest  good- will,  were  there  full  of  simulated  affection  ;  the 
pledge  of  the  right  hand,  which  used  to  be  a  witness  of  good 
faith,  was  violated  by  treachery  and  wickedness ;  then  came 
the  nocturnal  entry  into  Smyrna,  as  if  into  an  enemy's  city — 
Smyrna,  which  is  a  city  of  our  most  faithful  and  most  ancient 
allies  ;  then  the  surprise  of  Trebonius,  who,  if  he  were  sur- 
prised by  one  who  was  an  open  enemy,  was  very  careless ;  if 
by  one  who  up  to  that  moment  maintained  the  appearance  of 
a  citizen,  was  miserable.  And  by  his  example  fortune  wished 
us  to  take  a  lesson  of  what  the  conquered  party  had  to  fear. 
He  handed  over  a  man  of  consular  rank,  governing  the  prov- 
ince of  Asia  with  consular  authority,  to  an  exiled  armorer;1 
he  would  not  slay  him  the  moment  that  he  had  taken  him, 
fearing,  I  suppose,  that  his  victory  might  appear  too  merciful ; 

1  The  Latin  is  Samiarius,  or  as  some  read  it  Samarii/s.  Orellius  says, 
"  perhaps  it  means  some  sort  of  trade,  for  I  doubt  its  having  been  a  Ro- 
man proper  name."  Nizollius  says,  "Samanus  *xul — proverbium"  Fac- 
ciolatti  calls  him  a  man  whose  business  it  Ttm  to  #lean  the  arms  of  the 
guards,  &c,  with  Samian  chalk. 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  445 

but  after  having  attacked  that  most  excellent  man  with  in- 
sultino-  words  from  his  impious  mouth,  then  he  examined  him 
with  scourges  and  tortures  concerning  the  public  money,  and 
that  for  two  days  together.  Afterward  he  cut  off  his  head, 
and  ordered  it  to  be  fixed  on  a  javelin  and  carried  about ;  and 
the  rest  of  his  body,  having  been  dragged  through  the  street 
and  town,  he  threw  into  the  sea. 

We,  then,  have  to  war  against  this  enemy  by  whose  most 
foul  cruelty  all  the  savageness  of  barbarous  nations  is  sur- 
passed. Why  need  I  speak  of  the  massacre  of  Eoman  citizens  ? 
of  the  plunder  of  temples  !  "Who  is  there  who  can  possibly 
deplore  such  circumstances  as  their  atrocity  deserves !  And 
now  he  is  ranging  all  over  Asia,  he  is  triumphing  about  as  a 
king,  he  thinks  that  we  are  occupied  in  another  quarter  by 
another  war,  as  if  it  were  not  one  and  the  same  war  against 
this  outrageous  pair  of  impious  men. 

III.  You  see  now  an  image  of  the  cruelty  of  Marcus  Anto- 
nius  in  Dolabella ;  this  conduct  of  his  is  formed  on  the  model 
of  the  other.  It  is  by  him  that  the  lessons  of  wickedness 
have  been  taught  to  Dolabella.  Do  you  think  that  Antonius, 
if  he  had  the  power,  would  be  more  merciful  in  Italy  than 
Dolabella  has  proved  in  Asia  1  To  me,  indeed,  this  latter  ap- 
pears to  have  gone  as  far  as  the  insanity  of  a  savage  man  could 
go  ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  Antonius  either  would  omit  any  de- 
scription of  punishment,  if  he  had  only  the  power  to  inflict  it. 

Place  then  before  your  eyes,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  spec- 
tacle, miserable  indeed,  and  tearful,  but  still  indispensable  to 
rouse  your  minds  properly:  the  nocturnal  attack  upon  the 
most  beautiful  city  in  Asia ;  the  irruption  of  armed  men  into 
Trebonius's  house,  when  that  unhappy  man  saw  the  swords 
of  the  robbers  before  he  heard  what  was  the  matter ;  the  en- 
trance of  Dolabella,  raging, — his  ill-omened  voice,  and  infamous 
countenance, — the  chains,  the  scourges,  the  rack,  the  armorer 
who  was  both  torturer  and  executioner;  all  which  they  say 
that  the  unhappy  Trebonius  endured  with  great  fortitude.  A 
great  praise,  and  in  my  opinion  indeed  the  greatest  of  all , 
for  it  is  the  part  of  a  wise  man  to  resolve  beforehand  that 
whatever  can  happen  to  a  brave  man  is  to  be  endured  with 
patience  if  it  should  happen.  It  is  indeed  a  proof  of  altogeth- 
er greater  wisdom  to  act  with  such  foresight  as  to  prevent  any 
such  thing  from  happening ;  but  it  is  a  token  of  no  less  coup 
age  to  bear  it  bravely  if  it  should  befall  one. 


440  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

And  Dolabella  was  indeed  so  wholly  forgetful  of  the  claims 
of  humanity  (although,  indeed,  he  never  had  any  particu- 
lar recollection  of  it),  as  to  vent  his  insatiable  cruelty,  not 
only  on  the  living  man,  but  also  on  the  dead  carcass,  and, 
as  he  could  not  sufficiently  glut  his  hatred,  to  feed  his  eyes 
also  on  the  lacerations  inflicted,  and  the  insults  offered  to  his 
corpse. 

IV.  O  Dolabella,  much  more  wretched  than  he  whom  you 
intended  to  be  the  most  wretched  of  all  men  !  Trebonius  en- 
dured great  agonies  ;  many  men  have  endured  greater  still, 
from  severe  disease,  whom,  however,  we  are  in  the  habit  of 
calling  not  miserable,  but  afflicted.  His  sufferings,  which 
lasted  two  days,  were  long  ;  but  many  men  have  had  suffer- 
ings lasting  many  years ;  nor  are  the  tortures  inflicted  by  ex- 
ecutioners more  terrible  than  those  caused  by  disease  are 
sometimes.  There  are  other  tortures, — others,  I  tell  you,  O 
you  most  abandoned  and  insane  man,  which  are  far  more 
miserable.  For  in  proportion  as  the  vigor  of  the  mind  ex- 
ceeds that  of  the  body,  so  also  are  the  sufferings  which  rack 
the  mind  more  terrible  than  those  which  are  endured  by  the 
body.  He,  therefore,  who  commits  a  wicked  action  is  more 
wretched  than  he  who  is  compelled  to  endure  the  wickedness 
of  another.  Trebonius  was  tortured  by  Dolabella  ;  and  so,  in- 
deed, was  Regulus  by  the  Carthaginians.  If  on  that  account 
the  Carthaginians  were  considered  very  cruel  for  such  behav- 
ior to  an  enemy,  what  must  we  think  of  Dolabella,  who  treat- 
ed a  citizen  in  such  a  manner  !  Is  there  any  comparison  ?  or 
can  we  doubt  which  of  the  two  is  most  miserable  ?  he  whose 
death  the  senate  and  Roman  people  wish  to  avenge,  or  he  who 
has  been  adjudged  an  enemy  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the 
senate?  For  in  every  other  particular  of  their  lives,  who 
could  possibly,  without  the  greatest  insult  to  Trebonius,  com- 
pare the  life  of  Trebonius  to  that  of  Dolabella  ?  Who  is  ig- 
norant of  the  wisdom,  and  genius,  and  humanity,  and  inno- 
cence of  the  one,  and  of  his  greatness  of  mind  as  displayed 
in  his  exertions  for  the  freedom  of  his  country  .'  The  other, 
from  his  very  childhood,  has  taken  delight  in  cruelty  ;  and, 
moreover,  such  has  been  the  shameful  nature  of  his  lusts,  that 
he  has  always  delighted  in  the  very  fact  of  doing  those  things 
which  he  could  not  even  be  reproached  with  by  a  modest 
enemy. 

And  this  man,  O  ye  immortal  gods,  was  once  my  relation  J 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  447 

For  his  vices  were  unknown  to  one  who  did  not  inquire  into 
6uch  things  :  nor  perhaps  should  I  now  be  alienated  from  him 
if  he  hacT  not  been  discovered  to  be  an  enemy  to  you,  to  the 
walls  of  his  country,  to  this  city,  to  our  household  gods,  to 
the  altars  and  hearths  of  all  of  us, — in  short,  to  human  na- 
ture and  to  common  humanity.  But  now,  having  received 
this  lesson  from  him,  let  us  be  the  more  diligent  and  vigilant 
in  being  on  our  guard  against  Antonius. 

V.  Indeed,  Dolabella  had  not  with  him  any  great  number 
of  notorious  and  conspicuous  robbers.  But  you  see  there  are 
with  Antonius,  and  in  what  numbers.  In  the  first  place, 
there  is  his  brother  Lucius — what  a  fire-brand,  O  ye  immortal 
gods  !  what  an  incarnation  of  crime  and  wickedness  !  what  a 
gulf,  what  a  whirlpool  of  a  man !  What  do  you  think  that 
man  incapable  of  swallowing  up  in  his  mind,  or  gulping  down 
in  his  thoughts?  Who  do  you  imagine  there  is  whose  blood 
he  is  not  thirsting  for?  who,  on  whose  possessions  and  for- 
tunes he  is  not  fixing  his  most  impudent  eye?,  his  hopes,  and 
his  whole  heart?  What  shall  we  say  of  Censorinus?  who, 
as  far  as  words  go,  said  indeed  that  he  wished  to  be  the  city 
praetor  ;  but  who,  in  fact,  was  unwilling  to  be  so.  AYhat  of 
Bestia,  who  professes  that  he  is  a  candidate  for  the  consulship 
in  the  place  of  Brutus  ?  May  Jupiter  avert  from  us  this 
most  detestable  omen !  But  how  absurd  is  it  for  a  man  to 
stand  for  the  consulship  who  can  not  be  elected  praetor  !  un- 
less, indeed,  he  thinks  his  conviction  may  be  taken  as  an 
equivalent  to  the  praetorship.  Let  this  second  Caesar,  this 
great  Vopiscus,1  a  man  of  consummate  genius,  of  the  highest 
influence,  who  seeks  the  consulship  immediately  after  having 
heen  aedile,  be  excused  from  obedience  to  the  laws.  Although, 
indeed,  the  laws  do  not  bind  him,  on  account,  I  suppose,  of 
his  exceeding  dignity.  But  this  man  has  been  acquitted  five 
times  when  I  have  defended  him.  To  win  a  sixth  city  vic- 
tory is  difficult,  even  in  the  case  of  a  gladiator.  However, 
this  is  the  fault  of  the  judges ;  not  mine.  I  defended  him 
with'  perfect  good  faith ;  they  were  bound  to  retain  a  most 
illustrious  and  excellent  citizen  in  the  republic  ;  who  now, 
however,  appears  to  have  no  other  object  except  to  make  us 
understand  that  those  men  whose  judicial  decisions  we  an- 
nulled, decided  rightly  and  in  a  manner  advantageous  to  the 
republic. 

1  Vopiscus  is  another  name  of  Bestia. 


448  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Nor  is  this  the  case  with  respect  to  this  man  alone ;  there 
are  other  men  in  the  same  camp  honestly  condemned  and 
shamefully  restored ;  what  counsel  do  you  imagine  can  be 
adopted  by  those  men  who  are  enemies  to  all  good  men,  that 
is  not  utterly  cruel  1  There  is  besides  a  fellow  called  Saxa  ;  I 
don't  know  who  he  is ;  some  man  whom  Caesar  imported  from 
the  extremity  of  Celtiberia  and  gave  us  for  a  tribune  of  the 
people.  Before  that,  he  was  a  measurer  of  ground  for  camps ; 
now  he  hopes  to  measure  out  and  value  the  city.  May  the 
evils  which  this  foreigner  predicts  to  us  fall  on  his  own  head, 
and  may  we  escape  in  safety !  With  him  is  the  veteran  Capho ; 
nor  is  there  any  man  whom  the  veteran  troops  hate  more  cor- 
dially :  to  these  men,  as  if  in  addition  to  the  dowry  which  they 
had  received  during  our  civil  disasters,  Antonius  had  given 
the  Campanian  district,  that  they  might  have  it  as  a  sort  of 
nurse  for  their  other  estates.  I  only  wish  they  would  be  con- 
tented with  them !  We  would  bear  it  then,  though  it  would 
not  be  what  ought  to  be  borne;  but  still  it  would  be  worth 
our  while  to  bear  any  thing,  as  long  as  we  could  escape  this 
most  shameful  war. 

VI.  What  more*?  Have  you  not  before  your  eyes  those 
ornaments  of  the  camp  of  Marcus  Antonius?  In  the  first 
place,  these  two  colleagues  of  the  Antonii  and  Dolabella,  Nu- 
cula  and  Lento,  the  dividers  of  all  Italy  according  to  that  law 
which  the  senate  pronounced  to  have  been  carried  by  vio- 
lence ;  one  of  whom  has  been  a  writer  of  farces,  and  the  other 
an  actor  of  tragedies.  Why  should  I  speak  of  Domitius  the 
Apulian?  whose  property  we  have  lately  seen  advertised,  so 
great  is  the  carelessness  of  his  agents.  But  this  man  lately 
was  not  content  with  giving  poison  to  his  sister's  son,  he  act- 
ually drenched  him  with  it.  But  it  is  impossible  for  these 
men  to  live  in  any  other  than  a  prodigal  manner,  who  hope  for 
our  property  while  they  are  squandering  their  own.  I  have 
seen  also  an  auction  of  the  property  of  Publius  Decius,  an  il- 
lustrious man ;  who,  following  the  example  of  his  ancestors, 
devoted  himself  for  the  debts  of  another.  But  at  that  auction 
no  one  was  found  to  be  a  purchaser.  Ridiculous  man  to  think 
it  possible  to  escape  from  debt  by  selling  other  people's  prop- 
erty !  For  why  should  I  speak  of  Trebellius  1  on  whom  the 
furies  of  debts  seem  to  have  wreaked  their  vengeance;  for  we 
have  seen  one  table1  avenging  another.    Why  should  I  speak  of 

1   It  is  impossible  to  give  the  force  of  the  original  here,  which  plays  or 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  449 

Plancus?  whom  that  most  illustrious  citizen  Aquila  has  driven 
from  Pollentia, — and  that  too  with  a  broken  leg;  and  I  wish 
he  had  met  with  that  accident  earlier,  so  as  not  to  be  liable  to 
return  hither. 

I  had  almost  passed  over  the  light  and  glory  of  that  army,  /^ 
Caius  Annius  Cimber,  the  son  of  Lysidicus,  a  Lysidicus  him- 
self in  the  Greek  meaning  of  the  word,  since  he  has  broken 
all  laws,  unless  perhaps  it  is  natural  for  a  Cimbrian  to  slay  a 
German.1  When  Antonius  has  such  numbers  with  him,  and 
those  too  men  of  that  sort,  wrhat  crime  will  he  shrink  from, 
when  Dolabella  has  polluted  himself  with  such  atrocious  mur- 
ders without  at  all  an  equal  troop  of  robbers  to  support  him? 
Wherefore,  as  I  have  often  at  other  times  differed  against  my 
will  from  Quintus  Fuiius,  so  on  this  occasion  I  gladly  agree 
with  his  proposition.  And  from  this  you  may  see  that  my 
difference  is  not  with  the  man,  but  with  the  cause  which  he 
sometimes  advocates. 

Therefore,  at  present  I  not  only  agree  with  Quintus  Fufius, 
but  I  even  return  thanks  to  him ;  for  he  has  given  utterance 
to  opinions  which  are  upright,  and  dignified,  and  worthy  of 
the  republic.  He  has  pronounced  Dolabella  a  public  enemy ; 
he  has  declared  his  opinion  that  his  property  ought  to  be  con- 
fiscated by  public  authority.  And  though  nothing  could  be 
added  to  this  (for,  indeed,  what  could  he  propose  more  severe 
or  more  pitiless  ?),  nevertheless,  he  said  that  if  any  of  those  men 
who  were  asked  their  opinion  after  him  proposed  any  more 
severe  sentence,  he  would  vote  for  it.  Who  can  avoid  prais- 
ing such  severity  as  this  ? 

VII.  Now,  since  Dolabella  has  been  pronounced  a  public  en- 
emy, he  must  be  pursued  by  war.  For  he  himself  will  not  re- 
main quiet.  He  has  a  legion  with  him ;  he  has  troops  of  run- 
away slaves,  he  has  a  wicked  band  of  impious  men ;  he  him- 
self is  confident,  intemperate,  and  bent  on  falling  by  the  death 
of  a  gladiator.     Wherefore,  since,  as  Dolabella  was  voted  an 

the  word  tabula.  The  Latin  is,  "vindicem  enim  novarum  tabularum  no- 
vam  tabularu  vidimus  ;"  nova  tabula,  meaning,  as  is  well  known,  a  law 
for  the  abolition  of  debts  ;  nova  tabula  in  the  singular,  an  advertisement 
of  (Trebellius's)  property  being  to  be  sold. 

1  Here  too  is  a  succession  of  puns.  Lysidicus  is  derived  from  the 
Greek  Avu>,  to  loosen,  and  61ktj,  justice.  Cimber  is  a  proper  name,  and 
also  means  one  of  the  nation  of  the  Cimbri ;  Germanus  is  a  German,  and 
germanus  a  brother ;  and  he  means  here  to  impute  to  Caius  Cimber  that 
he  had  murdered  his  brother. 


450  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

enemy  by  the  decree  which  was  passed  yesterday,  war  must  he 
waged,  we  must  necessarily  appoint  a  general. 

Two  opinions  have  been  advanced ;  neither  of  which  do  T 
approve.  The  one,  because  I  always  think  it  dangerous  unless 
it  be  absolutely  necessary;  the  other,  because  I  think  it  wholly 
unsuited  to  the  emergency.  For  an  extraordinary  commission 
is  a  measure  suited  rather  to  the  fickle  character  of  the  mob ; 
one  which  does  not  at  all  become  our  dignity  or  this  assembly. 
In  the  war  against  Antiochus,  a  great  and  important  war, 
when  Asia  had  fallen  by  lot  to  Lucius  Scipio  as  his  province, 
and  when  he  was  thought  to  have  hardly  spirit  and  hardly 
visor  enough  for  it ;  and  when  the  senate  was  inclined  to 
intrust  the  business  to  his  colleague  Caius  Laelius,  the  father 
of  this  Lselius,  who  was  surnamed  the  Wise  ;  Publius  Africa- 
nus,  the  elder  brother  of  Lucius  Scipio,  rose  up,  and  entreated 
them  not  to  cast  such  a  slur  on  his  family,  and  said  that  in  his 
brother  there  was  united  the  greatest  possible  valor,  with  the 
most  consummate  prudence ;  and  that  he  too,  notwithstand- 
ing his  age,  and  all  the  exploits  which  he  had  performed, 
would  attend  his  brother  as  his  lieutenant.  And  after  he  had 
said  this,  nothing  was  changed  in  respect  to  Scipio' s  province; 
nor  was  any  extraordinary  command  sought  for  any  more  in 
that  war  than  in  those  two  terrible  Punic  wars  which  had  pre^ 
ceded  it,  which  were  carried  on  and  conducted  to  their  termi- 
nation either  by  the  consuls  or  by  dictators ;  or  than  in  the 
war  with  Pyrrhus,  or  in  that  with  Philippus,  or  afterward  in 
the  Achaean  war,  or  in  the  third  Punic  war ;  for  which  last 
the  Roman  people  took  great  care  to  select  a  suitable  general, 
Publius  Scipio,  but  at  the  same  time  it  appointed  him  to  the 
consulship  in  order  to  conduct  it. 

VIII.  War  was  to  be  waged  against  Aristonicus  in  the  con- 
sulship of  Publius  Licinius  and  Lucius  Valerius.  The  people 
was  consulted  as  to  whom  it  wished  to  have  the  management 
of  that  war.  Crassus,  the  consul  and  Pontiiex  Maxim ub, 
threatened  to  impose  a  fine  upon  Flaccus  his  colleague,  the 
priest  of  Mars,  if  he  deserted  the  sacrifices.  And  though  the 
people  remitted  the  fine,  still  they  ordered  the  priest  to  submit 
to  the  commands  of  the  pontiff.  But  even  then  the  Roman 
people  did  not  commit  the  management  of  the  war  to  a  pri- 
vate individual;  although  there  was  Africanus,  who  the  year 
before  had  celebrated  a  triumph  over  the  people  of  Numan- 
tia;  and  who  was  far  superior  to  all  men  in  martial  renown 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  451 

and  military  skill;  yet  he  only  gained  the  votes  of  two  trib- 
unes. And  accordingly  the  Roman  people  intrusted  the  man- 
agement of  the  war  to  Crassus  the  consul  rather  than  to  the 
private  individual  Africanus.  As  to  the  commands  given  to 
Cnseus  Pompeius,  that  most  illustrious  man,  that  first  of  men, 
they  were  carried  by  some  turbulent  tribunes  of  the  people. 
For  the  war  against  Sertorius  was  only  given  by  the  senate  to 
a  private  individual  because  the  consuls  refused  it ;  when  Lu- 
cius Philippus  said  that  he  sent  the  general  in  the  place  of 
the  two  consuls,  not  as  proconsul. 

What  then  is  the  object  of  these  comitia?  or  what  is  the 
meaning  of  this  canvassing  which  that  most  wise  and  dig- 
nified citizen,  Lucius  Caesar,  has  introduced  into  the  senate? 
He  has  proposed  to  vote  a  military  command  to  one  who  is 
certainly  a  most  illustrious  and  unimpeachable  man,  but  still 
only  a  private  individual.  And  by  doing  so  he  has  imposed 
a  heavy  burden  upon  us.  Suppose  I  agree ;  shall  I  by  so 
doing  countenance  the  introduction  of  the  practice  of  can- 
vassing into  the  senate-house  %  Suppose  I  vote  against,  it ; 
shall  I  appear  as  if  I  were  in  the  comitia  to  have  refused  an 
honor  to  a  man  who  is  one  of  my  greatest  friends  ?  But  if 
we  are  to  have  the  comitia  in  the  senate,  let  us  ask  for  votes, 
let  us  canvass ;  let  a  voting-tablet  be  given  us,  just  as  one  is 
given  to  the  people.  Why  do  you,  O  Caesar,  allow  it  to  be  so 
managed  that  either  a  most  illustrious  man,  if  your  proposi- 
tion be  not  agreed  to,  shall  appear  to  have  received  a  repulse, 
or  else  that  one  of  us  shall  appear  to  have  been  passed  over, 
if,  while  we  were  men  of  equal  dignity,  we  are  not  considered 
worthy  of  equal  honor  1 

But  (for  this  is  what  I  hear  is  said),  I  myself  gave  by  my 
own  vote  an  extraordinary  commission  to  Caius  Caesar;  Ay, 
indeed,  for  he  had  given  me  extraordinary  protection  ;  when  I 
say  me,  I  mean  he  had  given  it  to  the  senate  and  to  the  Ro- 
man people.  Was  I  to  refuse  giving  an  extraordinary  military 
command  to  that  man  from  whom  the  republic  had  received 
protection  which  had  never  even  been  thought  of,  but  that 
still  was  of  so  much  consequence  that  without  it  she  could 
not  have  been  safe  ?  There  were  only  the  alternatives  of 
taking  his  army  from  him,  or  giving  him  such  a  command. 
For  on  what  principle  or  by  what  means  can  an  army  be 
retained  by  a  man  who  has  not  been  invested  with  any  mili- 
tary command?     We  must  not,  therefore,  think  that  a  thing 


45'2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

has  been  given  to  a  man  which  has,  in  fact,  not  been  taken 
away  from  him.     You  would,  O  conscript  fathers,  have  taken 
a  command  away  from  Caius  Caesar,  if  you  had  not  given 
him  one.     The  veteran  soldiers,  who,  following  his  authority 
and  command  and  name,  had  taken  up  arms  in  the  cause  of 
the  republic,  desired  to  be  commanded  by  him.     The  Martial 
legion  and  the  fourth  legion  had  submitted  to  the  authority 
of  the  senate,  and  had  devoted  themselves  to  uphold  the  dig- 
nity of  the  republic,  in  such  a  way  as  to  feel  that  they  had 
a  right  to  demand  Gaius  Caesar  for  their  commander.      It  was 
the  necessitv  of  the  war  that  invested  Caius  Caesar  with  mill- 
tary  command ;    the  senate  only  gave  him  the  ensigns  of  it. 
But  I  beg  you  to  tell  me,  O  Lucius  Caesar, — I  am  aware  that 
I  am  arguing  with  a  man  of  the  greatest  experience, — when 
did  the  senate  ever  confer  a  military  command  on  a  private  in- 
dividual who  was  in  a  state  of  inactivity,  and  doing  nothing  % 
IX.   However,  I  have  been  speaking  hitherto  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  gratuitously  opposing  a  man  who  is  a  great 
friend  of  mine,  and  who  has  showed  me  great  kindness.     Al- 
though, can  one  deny  a  thing  to  a  person  who  not  only  does 
not  ask  for  it,  but  who  even  refuses  it !     But,  O  conscript 
fathers,  that  proposition  is  unsuited  to  the  dignity  of  the  con- 
suls, unsuited  to  the  critical  character  of  the  times :  namely, 
the  proposition  that  the  consuls,  for  the  sake  of  pursuing  Dol- 
abella,  shall  have  the  provinces  of  Asia  and  Syria  allotted  to 
them.     I  will  explain  why  it  is  inexpedient  for  the  republic ; 
but  first  of  all,  consider  what  ignominy  it  fixes  on  the  consuls. 
When  a  consul  elect  is  being  besieged,  when  the  safety  of  the 
republic  depends  upon  his  liberation,  when  mischievous  and 
parricidal  citizens  have  revolted  from  the  republic,  and  when 
we  are  carrying  on  a  war  in  which  we  are  fighting  for  our 
dignity,  for  our  freedom,  and  for  our  lives ;  and  when,  if  any 
one  falls  into  the  power  of  Antonius,  tortures  and  torments 
are  prepared  for  him  ;  and  when  the  struggle  for  all  these  ob- 
jects has  been  committed  and  intrusted  to  our  most  admirable 
and  gallant  consuls, — shall  any  mention  be  made  of  Asia  and 
Syria,  so  that  we  may  appear  to  have  given  any  injurious 
cause  for  others  to  entertain  suspicion  of  us,  or  to  bring  us 
into  unpopularity?     They  do  indeed  propose  it,  "after  hav- 
ing liberated  Brutus," — for  those  were  the  last  words  of  the 
proposal ;    say  rather,  after  having  deserted,  abandoned,  and 
betrayed  him. 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  453 

But  I  say  that  any  mention  whatever  of  any  provinces  has 
been  made  at  a  most  unseasonable  time.  For  although  your 
mind,  O  Caius  Pansa,  be  ever  so  intent,  as  indeed  it  is,  on 
effecting  the  liberation  of  the  most  brave  and  illustrious  of  all 
men,  still  the  nature  of  things  would  compel  you  inevitably 
sometimes  to  turn  your  thoughts  to  the  idea  of  pursuing  An- 
lonius,  and  to  divert  some  portion  of  your  care  and  attention 
to  Asia  and  Syria.  But  if  it  were  possible,  I  could  wish  you 
to  have  more  minds  than  one,  and  yet  to  direct  them  all  upon 
Mutina.  But  since  that  is  impossible,  I  do  wish  you,  with 
that  most  virtuous  and  all-accomplished  mind  which  you  have 
got,  to  think  of  nothing  but  Brutus.  And'  that,  indeed,  is 
what  you  are  doing ;  that  is  what  you  are  especially  striving 
at ;  but  still  no  man  can,  I  will  not  say  do  two  things,  espe- 
cially two  most  important  things,  at  one  time,  but  he  can  not 
even  do  entire  justice  to  them  both  in  his  thoughts.  It  is  our 
duty  rather  to  spur  on  and  inflame  that  excellent  eagerness  of 
yours,  and  not  to  transfer  any  portion  of  it  to  another  object 
of  care  in  a  different  direction. 

X.  Add  to  these  considerations  the  way  men  talk,  the  way  /"" 
in  which  they  nourish  suspicion,  the  way  in  which  they  take 
dislikes.  Imitate  me  whom  you  have  always  praised ;  for  I 
rejected  a  province  fully  appointed  and  provided  by  the  sen- 
ate, for  the  purpose  of  discarding  all  other  thoughts,  and  de- 
voting all  my  efforts  to  extinguishing  the  conflagration  that 
threatened  to  consume  my  country.  There  was  no  one  except 
me  alone,  to  whom,  indeed,  you  would,  in  consideration  of 
our  intimacy,  have  been  sure  to  communicate  any  thing  which 
concerned  your  interests,  who  would  believe  that  the  province 
had  been  decreed  to  you  against  your  will.  I  entreat  you, 
check,  as  is  due  to  your  eminent  wisdom,  this  report,  and  do 
not  seem  to  be  desirous  of  that  which  you  do  not  in  reality 
care  about.  And  you  should  take  the  more  care  of  this  point, 
because  your  colleague,  a  most  illustrious  man,  can  not  fall 
under  the  same  suspicion.  He  knows  nothing  of  all  that  is 
going  on  here ;  he  suspects  nothing ;  he  is  conducting  the 
war;  he  is  standing  in  battle  array;  he  is  fighting  for  his 
blood  and  for  his  life  ;  he  will  hear  of  the  province  being  de- 
creed to  him  before  he  could  imagine  that  there  had  been  time 
for  such  a  proceeding.  I  am  afraid  that  our  armies  too, 
which  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  republic,  not  from  any 
compulsory    lew.  but    of  their   own   voluntarv   zeal,  will  be 


454  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

checked  in  their  ardor,  if  they  suppose  that  we  are  thinking 
of  any  thing  but  instant  war. 

But  if  provinces  appear  to  the  consuls  as  things  to  be  de- 
sired, as  they  often  have  been  desired  by  many  illustrious  men ; 
first  restore  us  Brutus,  the  light  and  glory  of  the  state  ;  whom 
we  ought  to  preserve  like  that  statue  which  fell  from  heaven, 
and  is  guarded  by  the  protection  of  Vesta :  which,  as  long  as 
it  is  safe,  insures  our  safety  also.  Then  we  will  raise  you,  if 
it  be  possible,  even  to  heaven  on  our  shoulders ;  unquestiona- 
bly we  will  select  for  you  the  most  worthy  provinces.  But  at 
present  let  us  apply  ourselves  to  the  business  before  us.  And 
the  question  is,  whether  we  will  live  as  freemen,  or  die ;  for 
death  is  certainly  to  be  preferred  to  slavery.  What  more  need 
1  say  ?  Suppose  that  proposition  causes  delay  in  the  pursuit 
of  Dolabella1?  For  when  will  the  consul  arrive?  Are  we 
waitino-  till  there  is  not  even  a  vestige  of  the  towns  and  cities 
of  Asia  left !  "  But  they  will  send  some  one  of  their  officers." 
— That  will  certainly  be  a  step  that  I  shall  quite  approve  of; 
I  who  just  now  objected  to  giving  any  extraordinary  military 
command  to  ever  so  illustrious  a  man  if  he  were  only  a  private 
individual.  "But  they  will  send  a  man  worthy  of  such  a 
charge."  Will  they  send  one  more  worthy  than  Publius  Ser- 
vilius1?  But  the  city  has  not  such  a  man.  What  then  he 
himself  thinks  ought  to  be  given  to  no  one,  not  even  by  the 
senate,  can  I  approve  of  that  being  conferred  by  the  decision 
of  one  man?  We  have  need,  O  conscript  fathers,  of  a  man 
ready  and  prepared,  and  of  one  who  has  a  military  command 
legally  conferred  on  him ;  and  of  one  who,  besides  this,  has 
authority,  and  a  name,  and  an  army,  and  a  courage  which 
has  been  already  tried  in  his  exertions  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  republic. 

XL  Who  then  is  that  man?  Either  Marcus  Brutus,  or 
Caius  Cassius,  or  both  of  them.  I  would  vote  in  plain  words, 
as  there  are  many  precedents  for,  one  consul  or  both,  if  we 
had  not  already  hampered  Brutus  sufficiently  in  Greece,  and 
if  we  had  not  preferred  having  his  reinforcement  approach 
nearer  to  Italy  rather  than  move  farther  off  toward  Asia; 
not  so  much  in  order  to  receive  succor  ourselves  from  that 
army,  as  to  enable  that  army  to  receive  aid  across  the  water. 
Besides,  O  conscript  fathers,  even  now  Caius  Antonius  is  de- 
taining  Marcus  Brutus,  for  lie  occupies  Apollonia,  a  large  and 
important  city;  he  occupies,  as  I  believe,  Byllis ;   lie  occupies 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  455 

Amantia ;  he  is  threatening  Epirus ;  he  is  pressing  on  IUyri- 
cum  ;  he  has  with  him  several  cohorts,  and  he  has  cavalry. 
If  Brutus  be  transferred  from  this  district  to  any  other  war, 
we  shall  at  all  events  lose  Greece.  We  must  also  provide  for 
the  safety  of  Brundusium  and  all  that  coast  of  Italy.  Al- 
though I  marvel  that  Antonius  delays  so  long;  for  he  is  ac- 
customed usually  to  put  on  his  marching  dress,  and  not  to 
endure  the  fear  of  a  siege  for  any  length  of  time.  But  if 
Brutus  has  finished  that  business,  and  perceives  that  he  can 
better  serve  the  republic  by  pursuing  Dolabella  than  by  re- 
maining in  Greece,  he  will  act  of  his  own  head,  as  he  has  hith- 
erto done  ;  nor  amid  such  a  general  conflagration  will  he  wait 
for  the  orders  of  the  senate  when  instant  help  is  required. 
For  both  Brutus  and  Cassius  have  in  many  instances  been  a 
senate  to  themselves.  For  it  is  quite  inevitable  that  in  such 
a  confusion  and  disturbance  of  all  things  men  should  be  guided 
by  the  present  emergency  rather  than  by  precedent.  Nor  will 
this  be  the  first  time  that  either  Brutus  or  Cassius  has  con- 
sidered the  safety  and  deliverance  of  his  country  his  most  holy 
law  and  his  most  excellent  precedent.  Therefore,  if  there 
were  no  motion  submitted  to  us  about  the  pursuit  of  Dola- 
bella, still  I  should  consider  it  equivalent  to  a  decree,  when 
there  were  men  of  such  a  character  for  virtue,  authority,  and 
the  greatest  nobleness,  possessing  armies,  one  of  which  is 
already  known  to  us,  and  the  other  has  been  abundantly 
heard  of. 

XII.  Brutus  then,  you  may  be  sure,  has  not  waited  for  our 
decrees,  as  he  was  sure  of  our  desires.  For  he  is  not  gone  to 
his  own  province  of  Crete  ;  he  has  flown  to  Macedonia,  which 
belonged  to  another;  he  has  accounted  every  thing  his  own 
which  you  have  wished  to  be  yours;  he  has  enlisted  new  le- 
gions ;  he  has  received  old  ones ;  he  has  gained  over  to  his 
own  standard  the  cavalry  of  Dolabella,  and,  even  before  that 
man  was  polluted  with  such  enormous  parricide,  he,  of  his 
own  head,  pronounced  him  his  enemy.  For  if  he  were  not 
one,  by  what  right  could  he  himself  have  tempted  the  cavalry 
to  abandon  the  consul  %  What  more  need  I  say?  Did  not 
Caius  Cassius,  a  man  endowed  with  equal  greatness  of  mind 
and  with  equal  wisdom,  depart  from  Italy  with  the  deliberate 
object  of  preventing  Dolabella  from  obtaining  possession  of 
Syria?  By  what  law?  By  what  right?  By  that  which 
Jupiter  himself  has  sanctioned,  that  every  thing  which  was 


456  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

advantageous  to  the  republic  should  be  considered  legal  and 
just. 

For  law  is  nothing  but  a  correct  principle  drawn  from  the 
inspiration  of  the  gods,  commanding  what  is  honest,  and  for- 
bidding the  contrary.  Cassius,  therefore,  obeyed  this  law 
when  he  went  into  Syria ;  a  province  which  belonged  to  an- 
other, if  men  were  to  abide  by  the  written  laws ;  but  which, 
when  these  were  trampled  under  foot,  was  his  by  the  law  of 
nature.  But  in  order  that  they  may  be  sanctioned  by  your 
authority  also,  I  now  give  my  vote,  that, 

"  As  Publius  Dolabella,  and  those  who  have  been  the  min- 
isters of  and  accomplices  and  assistants  in  his  cruel  and  in- 
famous crime,  have  been  pronounced  enemies  of  the  Roman 
people  by  the  senate,  and  as  the  senate  has  voted  that  Publius 
Dolabella  shall  be  pursued  with  war,  in  order  that  he  who  has 
violated  all  laws  of  men  and  gods  by  a  new  and  unheard-of 
and  inexpiable  wickedness,  and  has  committed  the  most  in- 
famous treason  against  his  country,  may  suffer  the  punish- 
ment which  is  his  due,  and  which  he  has  well  deserved  at  the 
hands  of  gods  and  men  ;  the  senate  decrees  that  Caius  Cassius, 
proconsul,  shall  have  the  government  of  Syria  as  one  appoint- 
ed to  that  province  with  all  due  form  ;  and  that  he  shall  re- 
ceive their  armies  from  Quintus  Marcius  Crispus,  proconsul, 
from  Lucius  Statius  Murcus,  proconsul,  from  Aulus  Allienus, 
lieutenant,  and  that  they  shall  deliver  them  up  to  him  ;  and 
that  he,  with  these  troops  and  with  any  more  which  he  may 
have  got  from  other  quarters,  shall  pursue  Dolabella  with  war 
both  by  sea  and  land  ;  that,  for  the  sake  of  carrying  on  war, 
he  shall  have  authority  and  power  to  buy  ships,  and  sailors, 
and  money,  and  whatever  else  may  be  necessary  or  useful  for 
the  carrying  on  of  the  war,  in  whatever  places  it  seems  fitting 
to  him  to  do  so,  throughout  Syria.  Asia,  Bithynia,  and  Pon- 
tus ;  and  that,  in  whatever  province  he  shall  arrive  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  on  that  war,  in  that  province  as  soon  as 
Caius  Cassius,  proconsul,  shall  arrive  in  it,  the  power  of  Caius 
Cassius,  proconsul,  shall  be  superior  to  that  of  him  who  may 
be  the  regular  governor  of  the  province  at  the  time.  That 
king  Deiotarus  the  father,  and  also  king  Deiotarus  the  son, 
if  they  assist  Caius  Cassius,  proconsul,  with  their  armies  and 
treasures,  as  they  have  heretofore  often  assisted  the  generals 
of  the  Roman  people,  will  do  a  thing  which  will  be  grateful 
fco  the  senate  and  people  of  Pome ;  and  that  also,  if  the  rest 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  457 

of  the  kings  and  tetrarchs  and  governors  in  those  districts  do 
the  same,  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  will  not  be  forgetful 
of  their  loyalty  and  kindness  ;  and  that  Caius  Pansa  and  Au- 
lus  Hirtius  the  consuls,  one  or  both  of  them,  as  it  seems  good 
to  them,  as  soon  as  they  have  re-established  the  republic,  shall 
at  the  earliest  opportunity  submit  a  motion  to  this  order  about 
the  consular  and  praetorian  provinces ;  and  that,  in  the  mean 
time,  the  provinces  should  continue  to  be  governed  by  those 
officers  by  whom  they  are  governed  at  present,  until  a  suc- 
cessor be  appointed  to  each  by  a  resolution  of  the  senate." 

XLTL  By  this  resolution  of  the  senate  you  will  inflame  the 
existing  ardor  of  Cassius,  and  you  will  give  him  additional 
arms ;  for  you  can  not  be  ignorant  of  his  disposition,  or  of  the 
resources  which  he  has  at  present.  His  disposition  is  such  as 
you  see;  his  resources,  which  you  have  heard  stated  to  you, 
are  those  of  a  gallant  and  resolute  man,  who,  even  while  Tre- 
bonius  was  alive,  would  not  permit  the  piratical  crew  of  Dola- 
bella  to  penetrate  into  Syria.  Allienus,  my  intimate  friend 
and  connection,  who  went  thither  after  the  death  of  Trebo- 
nius,  will  not  permit  himself  to  be  called  the  lieutenant  of 
Dolabella.  The  army  of  Quintus  Cascilius  Bassns,  a  man  in- 
deed without  any  regular  appointment,  but  a  brave  and  emi- 
nent man,  is  vigorous  and  victorious.  The  army  of  Deiotarus 
the  king,  both  father  and  son,  is  very  numerous,  and  equipped 
in  our  fashion.  Moreover,  in  the  son  there  is  the  greatest 
hope,  the  greatest  vigor  of  genius  and  a  good  disposition,  and 
the  most  eminent  valor.  "Why  need  I  speak  of  the  father? 
whose  good-will  toward  the  Roman  people  is  coeval  with  his 
life ;  who  has  not  only  been  the  ally  of  our  commanders  in 
their  wars,  but  has  also  served  himself  as  the  general  of  his 
own  troops.  What  great  things  have  Sylla,  and  Murena, 
and  Servilius,  and  Lucullus  said  of  that  man ;  what  compli- 
mentary, what  honorable  and  dignified  mention  have  they  often 
made  of  him  in  the  senate !  Why  should  I  speak  of  Cnasus 
Pompeius  ?  who  considered  Deiotarus  the  only  friend  and  real 
well-wisher  from  his  heart,  the  only  really  loyal  man  to  the 
Roman  people  in  the  whole  world  %  We  were  generals,  Mar- 
cus Bibulus  and  I,  in  neighboring  provinces  bordering  on  his 
kingdom  ;  and  we  were  assisted  by  that  same  monarch  both 
with  cavalry  and  infantry.  Then  followed  this  most  misera- 
ble and  disastrous  civil  war ;  in  which  I  need  not  say  what 
Deiotarus  ought  to  have  done,  or  what  would  have  been  the 

U 


458  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

most  proper  course  which  he  could  have  adopted,  especially 
as  victory  decided  for  the  party  opposed  to  the  wishes  of  Deio- 
tarus.  And  if  ir-  that  war  he  committed  any  error,  he  did  sc 
in  common  with  the  senate.  If  his  judgment  was  the  right 
one,  then  even  though  defeated  it  does  not  deserve  to  be  blamed. 
To  these  resources  other  kings  and  other  levies  of  troops  will 
be  added.  Nor  will  fleets  be  wanting  to  us ;  so  greatly  do  the 
Tynans  esteem  Cassius,  so  mighty  is  his  name  in  Syria  and 
Phoenicia. 

XIV.  The  republic,  O  conscript  fathers,  has  a  general  ready 
against  Dolabella,  in  Caius  Cassius,  and  not  ready  only,  but 
also  skillful  and  brave.  He  performed  great  exploits  before 
the  arrival  of  Bibulus,  a  most  illustrious  man,  when  he  de- 
feated the  most  eminent  generals  of  the  Parthians  and  their 
innumerable  armies,  and  delivered  Syria  from  their  most  for- 
midable invasion.  I  pass  over  his  greatest  and  most  extraor- 
dinary glory ;  for  as  the  mention  of  it  is  not  yet  acceptable  to 
every  one,  we  had  better  preserve  it  in  our  recollection  than 
by  bearing  testimony  to  it  with  our  voice. 

I  have  noticed,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  some  people  have 
said  before  now,  that  even  Brutus  is  too  much  extolled  by  me, 
that  Cassius  is  too  much  extolled ;  and  that  by  this  proposi- 
tion of  mine  absolute  power  and  quite  a  principality  is  con- 
ferred upon  Cassius.     Whom  do  I  extol1?     Those  who   are 
themselves  the  glory  of  the  republic.     What  ?  have  I  not  at 
all  times  extolled  Decimus  Brutus  whenever  I  have  delivered 
my  opinion   at   all?     Do  you  then  find  fault  with  me?    or 
should  I  rather  praise  the  Antonii,  the  disgrace  and  infamy 
not  only  of  their  own  families,  but  of  the  Roman  name  ?  or 
should  I  speak  in  favor  of  Censorinus,  an  enemy  in  time  of 
war,  an  assassin  in  time  of  peace  ?  or  should  I  collect  all  the 
other  ruined  men  of  that  band  of  robbers  ?     But  I  am  so  far 
from  extolling  those  enemies  of  tranquillity,  of  concord,  of  the 
laws,  of  the  courts  of  justice,  and  of  liberty,  that  I  can  not 
avoid  hating  them  as  much  as  I  love  the  republic.     "Beware," 
says  one,  "how  you  offend  the  veterans."      For  this  is  what  I 
am  most  constantly  told.     But  I  certainly   ought  to  protect 
the  rights  of  the  veterans;  of  those  at  least  who  are  well  dis- 
posed; but  surely  I  ought  not  to  fear  them.     And  those  vet- 
erans who  have  taken  up  arms  in  the  cause  of  the  republic, 
ami  have  followed  Caius  Caesar,  remembering  the  kindnesses 
which  they  received  from  his  father,  and  who  at  this  day  aiy 


THE  ELEVENTH  PHILIPPIC.  459 

i 

defending  the  republic  to  their  own  great  personal  danger, — 
those  I  ought  not  only  to  defend,  but  to  seek  to  procure  addi- 
tional advantages  for  them.  But  those  also  who  remain  quiet, 
such  as  the  sixth  and  eighth  legion,  I  consider  worthy  of  great 
glory  and  praise.  But  as  for  those  companions  of  Antonius, 
who  after  they  have  devoured  the  benefits  of  Caesar,  besiege 
the  consul  elect,  threaten  this  city  with  fire  and  sword,  and 
have  given  themselves  up  to  Saxa  and  Capho,  men  born  for 
crime  and  plunder,  who  is  there  who  thinks  that  those  men 
ought  to  be  defended  1  Therefore  the  veterans  are  either  good 
men,  whom  we  ought  to  load  with  distinctions  ;  or  quiet  men, 
whom  we  ought  to  preserve ;  or  impious  ones,  against  whose 
phrensy  we  have  declared  war  and  taken  up  legitimate  arms. 

XV.  Who  then  are  the  veterans  whom  we  are  to  be  fearful 
of  offending?     Those  who  are  desirous  to  deliver  Decimus 
Brutus  from  siege?  for  how  can  those  men,  to  whom  the  safe- 
ty of  Brutus  is  dear,  hate  the  name  of  Cassius?     Or  those 
men  who  abstain  from  taking  arms  on  either  side  ?     I  have 
no  fear  of  any  of  those  men  who  delight  in  tranquillity  becom- 
ing a  mischievous  citizen.     But  as  for  the  third  class,  whom 
I  call  not  veteran  soldiers,  but  infamous  enemies,  I  wish  to 
inflict  on  them  the  most  bitter  pain.     Although,  O  conscript 
fathers,  how  long  are  we  to  deliver  our  opinions  as  it  may 
please  the  veterans !  why  are  we  to  yield  so  much  to  their 
haughtiness  !  why  are  we  to  make  their  arrogance  of  such  im- 
portance  as  to   choose  our  generals  with  reference  to  their 
pleasure  ?     But  I  (for  I  must  speak,  O  conscript  fathers,  what 
I  feel)  think  that  we  ought  not  so  much  to  regard  the  veter- 
ans, as  to  look  at  what  the  young  soldiers,  the  flower  of  Italy 
— at  what  the  new  legions,  most  eager  to  effect  the  deliver- 
ance of  their  country — at  what  all  Italy  will  think  of  your 
wisdom.     For  there  is  nothing  which  flourishes  forever.     Age 
succeeds  age.     The  legions  of  Caesar  have  flourished  for  a  long 
time ;  but  now  those  who  are  flourishing  are  the  legions  of 
Pansa,  and  the  legions  of  Hirtius,  and  the  legions  of  the  son 
of  Casar,  and  the  legions  of  Plancus.     They  surpass  the  vet- 
erans in  number ;  they  have  the  advantage  of  youth ;  more- 
over, they  surpass  them  also  in  authority.     For  they  are  en- 
gaged in  waging  that  war  which  is  approved  of  by  all  nations. 
Therefore,  rewards  have  been  promised  to  these  latter.     To 
the  former  they  have   been    already  paid  ; — let  them    enjoy 
them.     But  let  these  others  have  those  rewards  given  to  them 


400  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

which  we  have  promised  them.     For  that  is  what  I  hope  that 
the  immortal  gods  will  consider  just. 

And  as  this  is  the  case,  I  give  my  vote  for  the  proposition 
which  I  have  made  to  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  being  adopted 
by  you. 


THE  TWELFTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST  MAR- 
CUS ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    TWELFTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Decimus  Brutus  was  in  such  distress  in  Mutina,  that  his  friends  began 
to  be  alarmed,  fearing  that,  if  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  Antonius,  he 
would  be  treated  as  Trebonius  had  been.  And,  as  the  friends  of  An- 
tonius gave  out  that  he  was  now  more  inclined  to  come  to  terms  with 
the  senate,  a  proposition  was  made  and  supported  by  Pansa,  to  send  a 
second  embassy  to  him.  And  even  Cicero  at  first  consented  to  it,  and 
allowed  himself  to  be  nominated  with  Servilius  and  throe  other  senators, 
all  of  consular  rank  ;  but  on  more  mature  reflection  he  was  convinced 
that  he  had  been  guilty  of  a  blunder,  and  that  the  object  of  Antonius 
and  his  friends  was  only  to  gain  time  for  Ventidius  to  join  him  with 
his  three  legions.  Accordingly,  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  senate,  he 
delivered  the  following  speech,  retracting  his  former  sanction  of  the 
proposed  embassy.  And  he  spoke  so  strongly  against  it,  that  the  meas- 
ure was  abandoned,  and  Pansa  soon  afterward  marched  with  Ins  army 
to  join  Hirtius  and  Octavius,  with  the  intention  of  forcing  Antonius 
to  a  battle. 

I.  Although,  O  conscript  fathers,  it  seems  very  unbecom- 
ing for  that  man  whose  counsels  you  have  so  often  adopted  in 
the  most  important  affairs,  to  be  deceived  and  deluded,  and  to 
commit  mistakes ;  yet  I  console  myself,  since  I  made  the  mis- 
take in  company  with  you,  and  in  company  also  with  a  consul 
of  the  greatest  wisdom.  For  when  two  men  of  consular  rank 
had  brought  us  hope  of  an  honorable  peace,  they  appeared,  as 
being  friends  and  extremely  intimate  with  Marcus  Antonius, 
to  be  aware  of  some  weak  point  about  him  with  which  we 
were  unacquainted.  His  wife  and  children  are  in  the  house 
of  one  ;  the  other  is  known  every  day  to  send  letters  to,  to  re- 
ceive letters  from,  and  openly  to  favor  Antonius. 

These  men,  then,  appeared  likely  to  have  some  reason  for 
exhorting  us  to  peace,  which  they  had  done  for  some  time. 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  461 

The  consul,  too,  added  the  weight  of  his  exhortation ;  and 
what  a  consul!  If  we  look  for  prudence,  one  who  was  not 
easily  to  be  deceived ;  if  for  virtue  and  courage,  one  who 
would  never  admit  of  peace  unless  Antonius  submitted  and 
confessed  himself  to  be  vanquished  ;  if  for  greatness  of  mind, 
one  who  would  prefer  death  to  slavery.  You,  too,  O  conscript 
fathers,  appeared  to  be  induced  to  think  not  of  accepting  but 
of  imposing  conditions,  not  so  much  because  you  were  forget- 
ful of  your  most  important  and  dignified  resolutions,  as  be- 
cause you  had  hopes  suggested  you  of  a  surrender  on  the  part 
of  Antonius,  which  his  friends  preferred  to  call  peace.  My 
own  hopes,  and  I  imagine  yours  also,  were  increased  by  the 
circumstance  of  my  hearing  that  the  family  of  Antonius  was 
overwhelmed  with  distress,  and  that  his  wife  was  incessantly 
lamenting.  And  in  this  assembly,  too,  I  saw  that  the  parti- 
sans, on  whose  countenance  my  eyes  are  always  dwelling, 
looked  more  sorrowful  than  usual.  And  if  that  is  not  so, 
why  on  a  sudden  has  mention  been  made  of  peace  by  Piso 
and  Calenus  of  all  people  in  the  world,  why  at  this  particular 
moment,  why  so  unexpectedly?  Piso  declares  that  he  knows 
nothing,  that  he  has  not  heard  any  thing.  Calenus  declares 
that  no  news  has  been  brought.  And  they  make  that  state- 
ment now,  after  they  think  that  we  are  involved  in  a  pacific 
embassy.  What  need  have  we,  then,  of  any  new  determina- 
tion, if  no  new  circumstances  have  arisen  to  call  for  one  % 
II.  "We  have  been  deceived, — we  have,  I  say,  been  deceived, 

0  conscript  fathers.  It  is  the  cause  of  Antonius  that  has  been 
pleaded  by  his  friends,  and  not  the  cause  of  the  public.     And 

1  did  indeed  see  that,  though  through  a  sort  of  mist ;  the  safe- 
ty of  Decimus  Brutus  had  dazzled  my  eyesight.  But  if  in  war, 
substitutes  were  in  the  habit  of  being  given,  I  would  gladly  al- 
low mvself  to  be  hemmed  in,  so  Ions;  as  Decimus  Brutus  might 
be  released.  But  we  were  caught  by  this  expression  of  Quin- 
tus  Fufius ;  "  Shall  we  not  listen  to  Antonius,  even  if  he  re- 
tires from  Mutinal  Shall  we  not,  even  if  he  declares  that  he 
will  submit  himself  to  the  authority  of  the  senate  ?"  It  seem- 
ed harsh  to  say  that.  Thus  it  was  that  we  were  broken  ;  we 
yielded.  Does  he  then  retire  from  Mutina?  "I  don't  know." 
Is  he  obeying  the  senate?  "I  think  so,"  says  Calenus,  "but 
so  as  to  preserve  his  own  dignity  at  the  same  time."  You 
then,  O  conscript  fathers,  are  to  make  great  exertions  for  the 
express  purpose  of  losing  your  own  dignity,,  which  is  very 


462  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

great,  and  of  preserving  that  of  Antonius,  which  neither  has 
nor  can  have  any  existence ;  and  of  enabling  him  to  recover 
that  by  your  conduct,  which  he  has  lost  by  his  own.  "  But, 
however,  that  matter  is  not  open  for  consideration  now  ;  an 
embassy  has  been  appointed."  But  what  is  there  which  is 
not  open  for  consideration  to  a  wise  man,  as  long  as  it  can  be 
remodeled?  Any  man  is  liable  to  a  mistake  ;  but  no  one  but 
a  downright  fool  will  persist  in  error.  For  second  thoughts, 
as  people  say,  are  best.  The  mist  which  I  spoke  of  just  now 
is  dispelled  :  light  has  arisen  :  the  case  is  plain  :  we  see  every 
thing,  and  that  not  by  our  own  acuteness,  but  we  are  warned 
by  our  friends. 

You  heard  just  now  what  was  the  statement  made  by  a 
most  admirable  man.  I  found,  said  he,  his  house,  his  wife, 
his  children,  all  in  great  distress.  Good  men  marveled  at 
me,  my  friends  blamed  me  for  having  been  led  by  the  hope 
of  peace  to  undertake  an  embassy.  And  no  wonder,  O  Pub- 
lius  Servilius.  For  by  your  own  most  true  and  most  weighty 
arguments  Antonius  was  stripped,  I  do  not  say  of  all  dignity, 
but  of  even  every  hope  of  safety.  Who  would  not  wonder  if 
you  were  to  go  as  an  embassador  to  him?  I  judge  by  my 
own  case ;  for  with  regard  to  myself  I  see  how  the  same  de- 
sign as  you  conceived  is  found  fault  with.  And  are  we  the 
only  people  blamed  ?  What  1  did  that  most  gallant  man 
speak  so  long  and  so  precisely  a  little  while  ago  without  any 
reason?  What  was  he  laboring  for,  except  to  remove  from 
himself  a  groundless  suspicion  of  treachery?  And  whence 
did  that  suspicion  arise?  From  his  unexpected  advocacy  of 
peace,  which  he  adopted  all  on  a  sudden,  being  taken  in  by 
the  same  error  that  we  were. 

But  if  an  error  has  been  committed,  O  conscript  fathers, 
owing  to  a  groundless  and  fallacious  hope,  let  us  return  into 
the  right  road.  The  best  harbor  for  a  penitent  is  a  change 
of  intention. 

III.  For  what,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods  I  what 
good  can  our  embassy  do  to  the  republic  ?  What  good,  do  I 
say?  What  will  you  say  if  it  will  even  do  us  harm  ?  Will 
do  us  harm?  What  if  it  already  has  done  us  harm  !  Do  you 
suppose  that  that  most  energetic  and  fearless  desire  shown  by 
the  Roman  people  for  recovery  of  their  liberty  has  been  damp- 
ed and  weakened  by  hearing  of  this  embassy  for  peace?  What 
do  you  think  the  municipal  towns  feel?    and  the  colonies? 


? 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  463 

AHiat  do  you  think  will  be  the  feelings  of  all  Italy  ?  Do  you 
suppose  that  it  will  continue  to  glow  with  the  same  zeal  with 
which  it  burned  before  to  extinguish  this  common  conflagra- 
tion ?  Do  we  not  suppose  that  those  men  will  repent  of  hav- 
ing professed  and  displayed  so  much  hatred  to  Antonius,  who 
promised  us  money  and  arms ;  who  devoted  themselves  wholly, 
body,  heart,  and  soul,  to  the  safety  of  the  republic?  How  will 
Capua,  which  at  the  present  time  feels  like  a  second  Rome, 
approve  of  this  design  of  yours?  That  city  pronounced  them 
impious  citizens,  cast  them  out,  and  kept  them  out.  Anto- 
nius was  barely  saved  from  the  hands  of  that  city,  which  made 
a  most  gallant  attempt  to  crush  him.  Need  I  say  more?  Are 
we  not  by  these  proceedings  cutting  the  sinews  of  our  own  le- 
gions ;  for  what  man  can  engage  with  ardor  in  a  war,  when 
the  hope  of  peace  is  suggested  to  him  1  Even  that  godlike 
and  divine  Martial  legion  will  grow  languid  at  and  be  cowed 
by  the  receipt  of  this  news,  and  will  lose  that  most  noble  title 
of  Martial ;  their  swords  will  fall  to  the  ground  ;  their  weap- 
ons will  drop  from  their  hands.  For,  following  the  senate,  it 
will  not  consider  itself  bound  to  feel  more  bitter  hatred  against 
Antonius  than  the  senate. 

I  am  ashamed  for  this  legion,  I  am  ashamed  for  the  fourth 
legion,  which,  approving  of  our  authority  with  equal  virtue, 
abandoned  Antonius,  not  looking  upon  him  as  their  consul 
and  general,  but  as  an  enemy  and  attacker  of  their  country. 
I  am  ashamed  for  that  admirable  army  which  is  made  up  of 
two  armies;  which  has  now  been  reviewed,  and  which  has 
started  for  Mutina,  and  which,  if  it  hears  a  wrord  of  peace, 
that  is  to  say,  of  our  fear,  even  if  it  does  not  return,  will  at 
all  events  halt.  For  who,  when  the  senate  recalls  him  and 
sounds  a  retreat,  will  be  eager  to  engage  in  battle  ? l 

TV.  For  what  can  be  more  unreasonable  than  for  us  to 
pass  resolutions  about  peace  without  the  knowledge  of  those 
men  who  wage  the  war?  And  not  only  without  their  knowl- 
edge, but  even  against  their  will  ?  Do  you  think  that  Aulus 
Hirtius,  that  most  illustrious  consul,  and  that  Caius  Caesar,  a 
man  born  by  the  especial  kindness  of  the  gods  for  this  especial 
crisis,  whose  letters,  announcing  their  hope  of  victory,  I  hold 
in  my  hand,  are  desirous  of  peace  ?  They  are  anxious  to 
conquer ;  and  they  wish  to  obtain  that  most  delightful  and 

1  Compare  St.  Paul, — "  For  if  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound, 
who  shall  prepare  himself  to  the  battle  1"     1  Cor.  xiv.  8. 


464  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

i. 
beautiful  condition  of  peace,  as  the  consequence  of  victory, 
not  of  some  agreement.  What  more?  With  what  feelings 
do  you  think  that  Gaul  will  hear  of  this  proceeding?  For 
that  province  performs  the  chief  part  in  repelling,  and  man- 
aging, and  supporting  this  war.  Gaul,  following  the  mere 
nod,  for  I  need  not  say  the  command  of  Decimus  Brutus,  has 
strengthened  the  beginning  of  the  war  with  her  arms,  her 
men,  and  her  treasures:  she  has  exposed  the  whole  of  her 
body  to  the  cruelty  of  Marcus  Antonius :  she  is  drained,  laid 
waste,  attacked  with  fire  and  sword.  She  is  enduring  all  the 
injuries  of  war  with  equanimity,  contented  as  long  as  she  can 
ward  off  the  danger  of  slavery.  And,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
other  parts  of  Gaul  (for  they  are  all  alike),  the  people  of  Pa- 
tavium  have  excluded  some  men  who  were  sent  to  them  by 
Antonius,  and  have  driven  out  others,  and  have  assisted  our 
generals  with  money  and  soldiers,  and  with  what  was  above 
all  things  wanting,  arms.  The  rest  have  done  the  same ;  even 
those  who  formerly  were  of  the  party  of  Antonius,  and  who 
were  believed  to  have  been  alienated  from  the  senate  by  the 
injuries  of  many  years.  Men,  who  indeed  there  is  no  great 
reason  to  wonder  at  being  faithful  noAv,  after  the  freedom  of 
the  republic  has  been  shared  with  them,  when,  even  before 
they  had  been  admitted  to  those  privileges,  they  always  be- 
haved with  loyalty  and  good  faith. 

Y.  All  these  men,  then,  who  are  now  sanguine  of  victory, 
we  are  to  meet  with  the  name  of  peace ;  that  is  to  say,  with  a 
complete  despair  of  victory. 

What  more  1  What  if  it  is  even  absolutely  impossible  for 
there  to  be  any  real  peace  at  all  ?  For  what  sort  of  peace  is 
that  in  which  nothing  can  be  granted  to  the  man  with  whom 
one  is  making  peace  ?  Antonius  has  been  invited  to  peace  by 
us  by  many  circumstances ;  but  he  has  preferred  war.  Em- 
bassadors were  sent.  I  opposed  it,  indeed,  but  still  they  were 
sent.  Commands  were  taken  to  him  :  he  did  not  obey  them. 
He  was  ordered  not  to  besiege  Brutus,  and  to  retire  from  be- 
fore  Mutina.  He  attacked  that  town  even  more  vigorously. 
And  shall  we  send  an  embassy  to  treat  of  peace  to  a  man 
who  lias  rejected  embassadors  of  peace?  Do  we  suppose  that 
when  we  talk  to  him  face  to  face  he  will  be  more  moderate  in 
his  demands  than  he  was  when  he  sent  commands  to  the  sen- 
ate? But  at  that  time  he  demanded  things  which  appeared 
indeed  unreasonable,  but  still  such  as  it  might  have  been  pos- 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  4Go 

sible  to  concede ;  he  had  not  at  that  time  been  branded  by 
such  heavy  and  such  numerous  decisions  and  condemnations 
of  yours.  At  present  he  is  demanding  things  which  we  can 
not  by  any  possibility  grant,  unless  we  are  willing  first  to  con- 
fess ourselves  defeated  in  war. 

We  have  pronounced  that  resolutions  of  the  senate  which 
have  been  produced  by  him  are  forged.  Can  we  now  pro- 
nounce them  genuine  ?  We  have  declared  that  laws  have 
been  carried  by  him  by  means  of  violence,  and  in  a  manner 
contrary  to  the  auspices,  and  that  neither  the  burgesses  nor 
the  common  people  are  bound  by  them.  Do  you  consider  it 
possible  that  those  laws  should  be  re-established  ?  You  have 
judicially  decided  that  Antonius  has  embezzled  seven  hundred 
millions  of  sesterces  of  the  public  money.  Can  he  now  be  re- 
leased from  the  charge  of  peculation?  Exemptions,  grants  of 
the  freedom  of  the  city,  priesthoods,  kingdoms  have  been  sold 
by  him.  Can  those  tablets  again  be  put  up  which  you  took 
down  by  your  decrees"? 

VI.  But  if  we  can  rescind  those  decrees  which  we  have 
passed,  can  we  also  efface  the  memory  of  the  facts?  For 
where  will  any  posterity  forget  to  whose  wickedness  it  was 
owing  that  we  have  been  arrayed  in  these  unseemly  garments'? 
Although  the  blood  of  the  centurions  of  the  Martial  legion 
shed  at  Brundusium  be  washed  out.  can  the  notoriety  of  that 
inhuman  act  be  washed  out  too  ?  To  pass  over  things  which 
happened  in  the  interval,  what  lapse  of  time  will  ever  efface 
the  foul  memorials  of  his  military  works  around  Mutina, 
the  tokens  of  his  wickedness,  the  traces  of  his  piratical 
conduct  ? 

What  then,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods!  have  we 
which  we  can  grant  in  the  way  of  concession  to  this  polluted 
and  impious  parricide  ?  Are  we  to  yield  up  to  him  the  far- 
ther Gaul,  and  an  army?  This  is  not  making  peace,  but  only 
deferring  war.  Indeed,  it  is  not  only  prolonging  the  war,  but 
even  conceding  the  victory.  Is  it  not  a  victory  for  him  to 
enter  this  city  with  his  troops,  on  any  conditions  whatever  ? 
At  present  we  are  masters  of  every  thing  by  our  arms  ;  we 
are  of  great  influence  from  the  authority  of  this  order  ;  num- 
bers of  desperate  citizens  are  absent,  following  their  infamous 
leader;  and  still  we  can  not  bear  the  countenances  or  support 
the  language  of  those  men  who  are  left  behind  in  the  city  out 
of  their  number.    What  do  you  think  will  be  the  result  when 

U2 


466  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

such  numbers  force  their  way  into  the  city  at  one  time  ?  when 
we  have  laid  aside  our  arms,  and  they  have  not  laid  aside 
theirs1?  Must  we  not  be  defeated  for  everlasting,  in  conse- 
quence of  our  own  counsels? 

Place  before  your  eyes  Marcus  Antoni  us,  as  a  man  of  con- 
sular rank  ;  add  to  him  Lucius,  hoping  to  obtain  the  consul- 
ship ;  join  to  them  all  the  rest,  and  those  too  not  confined  to 
our  order,  who  are  fixing  their  thoughts  on  honors  and  com- 
mands. Do  not  despise  the  Tiros,  and  the  Numisii,  or  the 
Mustellre,  or  the  Seii.  A  peace  made  with  those  men  will  not 
be  peace,  but  a  covenant  of  slavery.  That  was  an  admirable 
expression  of  Lucius  Piso,  a  most  honorable  man,  and  one 
which  has  been  deservedly  praised  by  you,  O  Pansa,  not  only 
in  this  order,  but  also  in  the  assembly  of  the  people.  He  said, 
that  he  would  depart  from  Italy,  and  leave  his  household  gods 
and  his  native  home,  if  (but  might  the  gods  avert  such  a  dis- 
aster!) Antonius  overwhelmed  the  republic. 

VII.  I  ask,  therefore,  of  you,  O  Lucius  Piso,  whether  you 
would  not  think  the  republic  overwhelmed  if  so  many  men  of 
such  impiety,  of  such  audacity,  and  such  guilt,  were  admitted 
into  it?    Can  you  think  that  men  whom  we  could  hardly  bear 
when  they  were  not  yet  polluted  with  such  parricidal  treasons, 
will  be  able  to  be  borne  by  the  city  now  that  they  are  im- 
mersed in  every  sort  of  wickedness"?     Believe  me,  we  must 
either  adopt  your  plan,  and  retire,  depart,  embrace  a  life  of 
indigence  and  wandering,  or  else  we  must  offer  our  throats  to 
those  robbers,  and  perish  in  our  country.     What  has  become, 
O  Caius  Pansa,  of  those  noble  exhortations  of  yours,  by  which 
the  senate  was  roused,  and  the  Roman  people  stimulated,  not 
only  hearing  but  also  learning  from  you  that  there  is  nothing 
more  disgraceful  to  a  Roman  than  slavery  ?     Was  it  for  this 
that  we  assumed  the  garb  of  war,  and  took  arms,  and  roused 
up  all  the  youth  all  over  Italy,  in  order  that,  while  we  had  a 
most  flourishing  and  numerous  army,  we  might  send  embas- 
sadors to  treat  for  peace  ?     If  that  peace  is  to  be  received  by 
others,  why  do  we  not  wait  to  be  entreated  for  it?     If  our 
embassadors  are  to  beg  it,  what  is  it  that  we  are  afraid  of  ? 
Shall  I  make  one  of  this  embassy,  or  shall  I  be  mixed  up  with 
this  design,  in  which,  even  if  I  should  dissent  from  the  rest 
of  my  colleagues,  the  Roman  people  will  not  know  it  I     The 
result  will  be,  that  if  any  thing  be  granted  or  conceded,  it  will 
be   my  danger  if  Antonius  commits   any  pffenses,  <inco  the 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  467 

power  to  commit  them  Avill  seem  to  have  been  put  in  his 
hands  by  me. 

But  even  if  it  had  been  proper  to  entertain  any  idea  of 
peace  with  the  piratical  crew  of  Marcus  Antonius,  still  I  was 
the  last  person  who  ought  to  have  been  selected  to  negotiate 
such  a  peace.  I  never  voted  for  sending  embassadors.  Before 
the  return  of  the  last  embassadors  I  ventured  to  say,  that 
peace  itself,  even  if  they  did  bring  it,  ought  to  be  repudiated, 
since  war  would  be  concealed  under  the  name  of  peace ;  I  was 
the  chief  adviser  of  the  adoption  of  the  garb  of  war  ;  I  have 
invariably  called  that  man  a  public  enemy,  when  others  have 
been  calling  him  only  an  adversary ;  I  have  always  pronounced 
this  to  be  a  war,  while  others  have  styled  it  only  a  tumult. 
Nor  have  I  done  this  in  the  senate  alone  ;  I  have  always  acted 
in  the  same  way  before  the  people.  Nor  have  I  spoken  against 
himself  only,  but  also  against  the  accomplices  in  and  agents  of 
his  crimes,  whether  present  here,  or  there  with  him.  In  short, 
I  have  at  all  times  inveighed  against  the  whole  family  and 
party  of  Antonius.  Therefore,  as  those  impious  citizens  began 
to  congratulate  one  another  the  moment  the  hope  of  peace 
was  presented  to  them,  as  if  they  had  gained  the  victory,  so  also 
they  abused  me  as  unjust:  they  made  complaints  against  me; 
they  distrusted  Servilius  also ;  they  recollected  that  Antonius 
had  been  damaged  by  his  avowed  opinions  and  propositions  ; 
they  recollected  that  Lucius  Cassar,  though  a  brave  and  con- 
sistent senator,  is  still  his  uncle ;  that  Calenus  is  his  agent ; 
that  Piso  is  his  intimate  friend  ;  they  think  that  you  yourself, 
O  Pansa,  though  a  most  vigorous  and  fearless  consul,  are  now 
become  more  mercifully  inclined.  Not  that  it  really  is  so,  or 
that  it  possibly  can  be  so.  But  the  fact  of  a  mention  of  peace 
having  been  made  by  you,  has  given  rise  to  a  suspicion  in  the 
hearts  of  many,  that  you  have  changed  your  mind  a  little. 
The  friends  of  Antonius  are  annoyed  at  my  being  included 
among  these  persons ;  and  we  must  no  doubt  yield  to  them, 
since  we  have  once  begun  to  be  liberal. 

VIII.  Let  the  embassadors  go,  with  all  our  good  wishes ; 
but  let  those  men  go  at  whom  Antonius  may  take  no  offense. 
But  if  you  are  not  anxious  about  what  he  may  think,  at  all 
events,  O  conscript  fathers,  you  ought  to  have  some  regard  for 
me.  At  least  spare  my  eyes,  and  make  some  allowance  for  a 
just  indignation.  For  with  what  countenance  shall  I  be  able 
to  behold  (I  do  not  say,  the  enemy  of  my  country,  for  my  ha- 


468  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tred  of  him  on  that  score  I  feel  in  common  with  you  all),  but 
how  shall  I  bear  to  look  upon  that  man  who  is  my  own  most 
bitter  personal  enemy,  as  his  most  furious  harangues  against 
me  plainly  declare  him  ?  Do  you  think  that  I  am  so  complete- 
ly made  of  iron  as  to  be  able  unmoved  to  meet  him,  or  look  at 
him?  who  lately,  when  in  an  assembly  of  the  people  he  was 
making  presents  to  those  men  who  appeared  to  him  the  most 
audacious  of  his  band  of  parricidal  traitors,  said  that  he  gave 
my  property  to  Petissius  of  Urbinum,  a  man  who,  after  the 
shipwreck  of  a  very  splendid  patrimony,  was  dashed  against 
these  rocks  of  Antonius.  Shall  I  be  able  to  bear  the  sight  of 
Lucius  Antonius  ?  a  man  from  whose  cruelty  I  could  not  have 
escaped  if  I  had  not  defended  myself  behind  the  walls  and  gates 
and  by  the  zeal  of  my  own  municipal  town.  And  this  same 
Asiatic  gladiator,  this  plunderer  of  Italy,  this  colleague  of 
Lenti  and  Nucula,  when  he  was  giving  some  pieces  of  gold  to 
Aquila  the  centurion,  said  that  he  was  giving  him  some  of 
my  property.  For,  if  he  had  said  he  was  giving  him  some  of 
his  own,  he  thought  that  the  eagle  itself  would  not  have  be- 
lieved it.  My  eyes  can  not — my  eyes,  I  say,  will  not  bear  the 
sight  of  Saxa,  or  Capho,  or  the  two  praetors,  or  the  tribune  of 
the  people,  or  the  two  tribunes  elect,  or  Bestia,  or  Trebellius, 
or  Titus  Plancus.  I  can  not  look  with  equanimity  on  so 
many,  and  those  such  foul,  such  wicked  enemies ;  nor  is  that 
feeling  caused  by  any  fastidiousness  of  mine,  but  by  my  affec- 
tion for  the  republic.  But  I  will  subdue  my  feelings,  and  keep 
my  own  inclinations  under  restraint.  If  I  can  not  eradicate 
my  most  just  indignation,  I  will  conceal  it.  What  ?  Do  you 
not  think,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  I  should  have  some  regard 
for  my  own  life  ?  But  that  indeed  has  never  been  an  object  of 
much  concern  to  me,  especially  since  Dolabella  has  acted  in 
such  a  way  that  death  is  a  desirable  thing,  provided  it  come  with- 
out torments  and  tortures.  But  in  your  eyes  and  in  those  of  the 
Roman  people  my  life  ought  not  to  appear  of  no  consequence. 
Fori  am  a  man, — unless  indeed  I  am  deceived  in  my  estimate 
of  myself, — who  by  my  vigilance,  and  anxiety,  by  the  (pinions 
which  I  have  delivered,  and  by  the  dangers  too  of  which  1  have 
encountered  great  numbers,  by  reason  of  the  mcsl  bitter  hatred 
which  all  impious  icon  bear  me,  have  at  least  (not  to  seem  to 
say  any  thing  too  boastful)  conducted  myself  so  as  10  be  no 
injury  to  the  republic.  And  as  this  is  the  case,  do  you  thrak 
that  I  ought  to  have  no  consideration  for  my  own  danger  > 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  469 

IX.  Even  here,  when  I  was  in  the  city  and  at  home,  nev- 
ertheless many  attempts  were  made  against  me,  in  a  place 
where  I  have  not  only  the  fidelity  of  my  friends  but  the  eyes 
also  of  the  entire  city  to  guard  me.  "What  do  you  think  will 
be  the  case  when  I  have  gone  on  a  journey,  and  that  too  a 
long  one  I  Do  you  think  that  I  shall  have  no  occasion  to 
fear  plots  then  ?  There  are  three  roads  to  Mutina ;  a  place 
which  my  mind  longs  to  see,  in  order  that  I  may  behold  as 
speedily  as  possible  that  pledge  of  freedom  of  the  Roman 
people  Decimus  Brutus ;  in  whose  embrace  I  would  willingly 
yield  up  my  parting  breath,  when  all  my  actions  for  the  last 
many  months,  and  all  my  opinions  and  propositions  have  re- 
sulted in  the  end  which  I  proposed  to  myself.  There  are,  as 
I  have  said,  three  roads ;  the  Flaminian  road,  along  the  Adri- 
atic ;  the  Aurelian  road,  along  the  Mediterranean  coast ;  the 
Midland  road,  which  is  called  the  Cassian. 

Now,  take  notice,  I  beg  of  you,  whether  my  suspicion  of 
danger  to  myself  is  at  variance  with  a  reasonable  conjecture. 
The  Cassian  road  goes  through  Etruria.  Do  we  not  know 
then,  O  Pahsa,  over  what  places  the  authority  of  Lenti  Cae- 
sennius,  as  a  septemvir,  prevails  at  present  1  He  certainly  is 
not  on  our  side  either  in  mind  or  bodv.  But  if  he  is  at  home, 
or  not  far  from  home,  he  is  certainly  in  Etruria ;  that  is,  in 
my  road.  "Who,  then,  will  undertake  to  me  that  Lenti  will 
be  content  with  exacting  one  life  alone  ?  Tell  me  besides,  O 
Pansa,  where  Ventidius  is, — a  man  to  whom  I  have  always 
been  friendly  before  he  became  so  openly  an  enemy  to  the  re- 
public and  to  all  good  men.  I  may  avoid  the  Cassian  road, 
and  take  the  Flaminian.  What  if,  as  it  is  said,  Yentidius 
has  arrived  at  Ancona  ?  Shall  I  be  able  in  that  case  to  reach 
Ariminum  in  safety  1  The  Aurelian  road  remains  ;  and  here 
too  I  shall  find  a  protector  ;  for  on  that  road  are  the  poses- 
sions  of  Publius  Clodius.  His  whole  household  will  come  out 
to  meet  me ;  and  will  invite  me  to  partake  of  their  hospital- 
ity, on  account  of  my  notorious  intimacy  with  their  master? 

X.  Shall  I  then  trust  myself  to  those  roads — I  who  lately, 
on  the  day  of  the  feast  of  Terminus,  did  not  dare  even  to  go 
into  the  suburbs  and  return  by  the  same  road  on  the  same 
day?  I  can  scarcely  defend  myself  within  the  walls  of  my 
own  house  without  the  protection  of  my  friends  ;  therefore  I 
remain  in  the  city ;  and  if  I  am  allowed  to  do  so  I  wrill  re- 
main.    This  is  my  proper  place,  this  is  my  beat,  this  is  my 


470  CICERO'S  ORATIONS* 

post  as  a  sentinel,  this  is  my  station  as  a  defender  of  the  city. 
Let  others  occupy  camps  and  kingdoms,  and  engage  in  the 
conduct  of  the  war  ;  let  them  show  the  active  hatred  of  the 
enemy ;  we,  as  we  say,  and  as  we  have  always  hitherto  done, 
will,  in  common  with  you,  defend  the  city  and  the  affairs  of 
the  city.  Nor  do  I  shrink  from  this  office ;  although  I  see 
the  Roman  people  shrink  from  it  for  me.  No  one  is  less 
timid  than  I  am  ;  no  one  more  cautious.  The  facts  speak  for 
themselves.  This  is  the  twentieth  year  that  I  have  been  a 
mark  for  the  attempts  of  all  wicked  men ;  therefore,  they 
have  paid  to  the  republic  (not  to  say  to  me)  the  penalty  of 
their  wickedness.  As  yet  the  republic  has  preserved  me  in 
safety  for  itself.  I  am  almost  afraid  to  say  what  I  am  going 
to  say ;  for  I  know  that  any  accident  may  happen  to  a  man ; 
but  still,  when  I  was  once  hemmed  in  by  the  united  force  of 
many  most  influential  men,  I  yielded  voluntarily,  and  fell  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  be  able  to  rise  again  in  the  most  honor- 
able manner. 

Can  I,  then,  appear  as  cautious  and  as  prudent  as  I  ought 
to  be  if  I  commit  myself  to  a  journey  so  full  of  enemies  and 
dangers  to  me  ?  Those  men  who  are  concerned  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  republic  ought  at  their  death  to  leave  behind 
them  glory,  and  not  reproaches  for  their  fault,  or  grounds  for 
blaming  their  folly.  What  good  man  is  there  who  does  not 
mourn  for  the  death  of  Trebonius?  Who  is  there  who  does 
not  grieve  for  the  loss  of  such  a  citizen  and  such  a  man? 
But  there  are  men  who  say  (hastily  indeed,  but  still  they  do 
say  so),  that  he  deserves  to  be  grieved  for  less  because  he  did 
not  take  precautions  against  a  desperately  wicked  man.  In 
truth,  a  man  who  professes  to  be  himself  a  defender  of  many 
men,  wise  men  say,  ought  in  the  first  place  to  show  himself 
able  to  protect  his  own  life.  I  say,  that  when  one  is  fenced 
round  by  the  laws  and  by  the  fear  of  justice,  a  man  is  not 
bound  to  be  afraid  of  every  thing,  or  to  take  precautions 
against  all  imaginable  designs ;  for  who  would  dare  to  attack 
a  man  in  daylight,  on  a  military  road,  or  a  man  who  was  well 
attended,  or  an  illustrious  man  1  But  these  considerations 
have  no  bearing  on  the  present  time,  nor  in  my  case;  for  not 
only  would  a  man  who  offered  violence  to  me  have  no  fear  of 
punishment,  but  he  would  even  hope  to  obtain  glory  and  re- 
wards from  those  bands  of  robbers. 

XI.  These  dangers  I. can  guard  against  in  the  city;   *t  i* 


THE  TWELFTH  PHILIPPIC.  471 

easy  for  me  to  look  around  and  see  where  I  am  going  out 
from,  whither  I  am  going,  what  there  is  on  my  right  hand, 
and  on  my  left.  Shall  I  be  able  to  do  the  same  on  the  roads 
of  the  Apennines  1  in  which,  even  if  there  should  be  no  am- 
bush, as  there  easily  may  be,  still  my  mind  will  be  kept  in 
such  a  state  of  anxiety  as  not  to  be  able  to  attend  to  the  duties 
of  an  embassy.  But  suppose  I  have  escaped  all  plots  against 
me,  and  have  passed  over  the  Apennines ;  still  I  have  to  en- 
counter a  meeting  and  conference  with  Antonius.  What  place 
am  I  to  select  ?  If  it  is  outside  the  camp,  the  rest  may  look 
to  themselves, — I  think  that  death  would  come  upon  me  in- 
stantly. I  know  the  phrensy  of  the  man  ;  I  know  his  unbridled 
violence.  The  ferocity  of  his  manners  and  the  savageness  of 
his  nature  is  not  usually  softened  even  by  wine.  Then,  in . 
flamed  by  anger  and  insanity,  with  his  brother  Lucius,  that 
foulest  of  beasts,  at  his  side,  he  will  never  keep  his  sacrilegious 
and  impious  hands  from  me.  I  can  recollect  conferences  with 
most  bitter  enemies,  and  with  citizens  in  a  state  of  the  most 
bitter  disagreement. 

CnaBus  Pompeius,  the  son  of  Sextus,  being  consul,  in  my 
presence,  when  I  was  serving  my  first  campaign  in  his  army, 
had  a  conference  with  Publius  Yettius  Scato,  the  general  of 
the  Marsians,  between  the  camps.  And  I  recollect  that  Sex- 
tus Pompeius,  the  brother  of  the  consul,  a  very  learned  and 
wise  man,  came  thither  from  Eome  to  the  conference.  And 
when  Scato  had  saluted  him,  "What,"  said  he,  "am  I  to  call 
youf — "Call  me/'  said  he,  "one  who  is  by  inclination  a 
friend,  by  necessity  an  enemy."  That  conference  was  con- 
ducted with  fairness ;  there  was  no  fear,  no  suspicion ;  even 
their  mutual  hatred  was  not  great ;  for  the  allies  were  not 
6eeking  to  take  our  city  from  us,  but  to  be  themselves  admit- 
ted to  share  the  privileges  of  it.  Sylla  and  Scipio,  one  at- 
tended by  the  flower  of  the  nobility,  the  other  by  the  allies, 
had  a  conference  between  Cales  and  Teanum,  respecting  the 
authority  of  the  senate,  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  and  the 
privileges  of  citizenship ;  and  agreed  upon  conditions  and 
stipulations.  Good  faith  was  not  strictly  observed  at  that 
conference  ;  but  still  there  was  no  violence  used,  and  no  dan- 
ger incurred. 

XII.  But  can  we  be  equally  safe  among  Antonius's  pirat- 
ical crew  ?  We  can  not ;  or,  even  if  the  rest  can,  I  do  not 
believe  that  I  can.     WThat  will  be  the  case  if  we  are  not  to 


^72  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

confer  out  of  the  camp  !  What  camp  is  to  be  chosen  for  the 
conference  1  He  will  never  come  into  our  camp  ; — much  less 
will  we  go  to  his.  It  follows  then,  that  all  demands  must  be 
received  and  sent  to  and  fro  by  means  of  letters.  We  then 
shall  be  in  our  respective  camps.  On  all  his  demands  I  shall 
have  but  one  opinion  ;  and  when  I  have  stated  it  here,  in  your 
hearing,  you  may  think  that  I  have  gone,  and  that  I  have 
come  back  again. — I  shall  have  finished  my  embassy.  As 
far  as  my  sentiments  can  prevail  I  shall  refer  every  demana 
which  Antonius  makes  to  the  senate.  For,  indeed,  we  havb 
no  power  to  do  otherwise ;  nor  have  we  received  any  com- 
mission from  this  assembly,  such  as,  when  a  war  is  termim 
ated,  is  usually,  in  accordance  with  the  precedents  of  youi 
ancestors,  intrusted  to  the  embassadors.  Nor,  in  fact,  have 
we  received  any  particular  commission  from  the  senate  at  all. 

And,  as  I  shall  pursue  this  line  of  conduct  in  the  council, 
where  some,  as  I  imagine,  will  oppose  it,  have  I  not  reason  to 
fear  that  the  ignorant  mob  may  think  that  peace  is  delayed 
by  my  means'?  Suppose  now  that  the  new  legions  do  not 
disapprove  of  my  resolution.  For  I  am  quite  sure  that  the 
Martial  legion  and  the  fourth  legion  will  not  approve  of  any 
thing  which  is  contrary  to  dignity  and  honor.  What  then  ? 
have  we  no  regard  for  the  opinion  of  the  veterans  ?  For  evep 
they  themselves  do  not  wish  to  be  feared  by  us. — Still,  how 
will  they  receive  my  severity?  For  they  have  heard  many 
false  statements  concerning  me ;  wicked  men  have  circulated 
among  them  many  calumnies  against  me.  Their  advantage 
indeed,  as  you  all  are  most  perfect  witnesses  of,  I  have  always 
promoted  by  my  opinion,  by  my  authority,  and  by  my  lan- 
guage. But  they  believe  wicked  men,  they  believe  seditious 
men,  they  believe  their  own  party.  They  are,  indeed,  brave 
men ;  but  by  reason  of  their  exploits  which  they  have  per- 
formed in  the  cause  of  the  freedom  of  the  Roman  people  and 
of  the  safety  of  the  republic,  they  are  too  ferocious  and  too 
much  inclined  to  brin<>;  all  our  counsels  under  the  swav  of 
their  own  violence.  Their  deliberate  reflection  I  am  not  afraid 
of,  but  I  confess  1  dread  their  impetuosity. 

If  I  escape  all  these  great  dangers  too,  do  you  think  my  re- 
turn will  be  completely  safe?  For  when  I  have,  according  to 
my  usual  custom,  defended  your  authority,  and  have  proved 
my  good  faith  toward  the  republic,  and  my  firmness;  then  I 
shall  have  to  fear,  not  those  men  alone  who  hate  me,  but  those 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  473 

also  who  envy  me.  Let  my  life  then  be  preserved  for  the 
republic,  let  it  be  kept  for  the  service  of  my  country  as  long 
as  my  dignity  or  nature  will  permit ;  and  let  death  either  be 
the  necessity  of  fate,  or,  if  it  must  be  encountered  earlier,  let 
it  be  encountered  with  glory. 

This  being  the  case,  although  the  republic  has  no  need  (to 
say  the  least  of  it)  of  this  embassy,  still  if  it  be  possible  for 
me  to  go  on  it  in  safety,  I  am  willing  to  go.  Altogether,  O 
conscript  fathers,  I  shall  regulate  the  whole  of  my  conduct  in 
this  affair,  not  by  any  consideration  of  my  own  danger,  but 
by  the  advantage  of  the  republic.  And,  as  I  have  plenty  of 
time,  I  think  that  it  behooves  me  to  deliberate  upon  that  over 
and  over  again,  and  to  adopt  that  line  of  conduct  which  I  shall 
judge  to  be  most  beneficial  to  the  republic. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO  AGAINST 

MARCUS  ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    THIRTEENTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

Antonius  wrote  a  long  letter  to  Hirtius  and  to  Octavius,  to  persuade  them 
that  they  were  acting  against  their  true  interests  and  dignity  in  com- 
bining with  the  slayers  of  Julius  Caesar  against  him.  But  they,  instead 
of  answering  this  letter,  sent  it  to  Cicero  at  Rome.  At  the  same  time 
Lepidus  wrote  a  public  letter  to  the  senate  to  exhort  them  to  measures 
of  peace  ;  and  to  a  reconciliation  with  Antonius  ;  and  took  no  notice 
of  the  public  honours  which  had  been  decreed  to  him  in  compliance 
with  Cicero's  motion.  The  senate  was  much  displeased  at  this.  They 
agreed,  however,  to  a  proposal  of  Servilius — to  thank  Lepidus  for  hia 
love  of  peace,  but  to  desire  him  to  leave  that  to  them  ;  as  there  could 
be  no  peace  till  Antonius  had  laid  down  his  arms.  But  Antonius's 
friends  were  encouraged  by  Lepidus's  letter  to  renew  their  suggestions 
of  a  treaty  ;  which  caused  Cicero  to  deliver  the  following  speech  to  th«, 
senate  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the  influence  of  their  argu. 
mente. 

I.  From  the  first  beginning,  O  conscript  fathers,  of  thi? 
war  which  we  have  undertaken  against  those  impious  and 
wicked  citizens,  I  have  been  afraid  lest  the  insidious  proposals 
of  peace  might  damp  our  zeal  for  the  recovery  of  our  liberty. 
For  the  name  of  peace  is  sweet ;   and  the  thing  itself  not  only 


474  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

pleasant  but  salutary.  For  a  man  seems  to  have  no  affection 
either  for  the  private  hearths  of  the  citizens,  nor  for  the  pub- 
lic laws,  nor  for  the  rights  of  freedom,  who  is  delighted  with 
discord  and  the  slaughter  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  with  civil 
war;  and  such  a  man  I  think  ought  to-be  erased  from  the 
catalogue  of  men,  and  exterminated  from  all  human  society. 
Therefore,  if  Sylla,  or  Marius,  or  both  of  them,  or  Octavius, 
or  Cinna,  or  Sylla  for  the  second  time,  or  the  other  Marius 
and  Carbo,  or  if  any  one  else  has  ever  wished  for  civil  war, 
I  think  that  man  a  citizen  born  for  the  detestation  of  the 
republic.  For  why  should  I  sreak  of  the  last  man  who  stir- 
red up  such  a  war ;  a  man  whose  acts,  indeed,  we  defend, 
while  we  admit  that  the*author  of  them  was  deservedly  slain  ? 
Nothing,  then,  is  more  infamous  than  such  a  citizen  or  such  a 
man ;  if  indeed  he  deserves  to  be  considered  either  a  citizen 
or  a  man,  who  is  desirous  of  civil  war. 

But  the  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, is  whether  peace  can  exist  with  all  men,  or  whether  there 
be  any  war  incapable  of  reconciliation,  in  which  any  agree- 
ment of  peace  is  only  a  covenant  of  slavery.  Whether  Sylla 
was  making  peace  with  Scipio,  or  whether  he  was  only  pre- 
tending to  do  so,  there  was  no  reason  to  despair,  if  an  agree- 
ment had  been  come  to,  that  the  city  might  have  been  in  a 
tolerable  state.  If  Cinna  had  been  willing  to  agree  with  Oc- 
tavius, the  safety  of  the  citizens  might  still  have  had  an  exist- 
ence in  the  republic.  In  the  last  war,  if  Pompeius  had  relax- 
ed somewhat  of  his  dignified  firmness,  and  Caesar  a  good  deal 
-of  his  ambition,  we  might  have  had  both  a  lasting  peace,  and 
Borne  considerable  remainder  of  the  republic. 

II.  But  what  is  the  state  of  things  now?  Is  it  possible 
for  there  to  be  peace  with  Antonius1?  with  Censorinus,  and 
Ventidius,  and  Trebellius,  and  Bestia,  and  Nucula,  and  Mu- 
natius,  and  Lento,  and  Saxa?  I  have  just  mentioned  a  few 
names  as  a  specimen ;  you  yourselves  see  the  countless  num- 
bers and  savage  nature  of  the  rest  of  the  host.  Add,  besides 
the  wrecks  of  Caesar's  party,  the  Barbae  Cassdi,  the  Barbatii, 
the  Pollios ;  add  the  companions  and  fellow-gamblers  of  An- 
tonius, Eutrapelus,  and  Mela,  and  Coelius,  and  Pontics,  and 
Crassicius,  and  Tiro,  and  Mustela,  and  Petissius ;  I  say  no- 
thing of  the  main  body,  I  am  only  naming  the  leaders.  To 
these  are  added  the  legionaries  of  the  Alauda  and  the  rest  of 
the  veterans,  the  seminary  of  the  judges  of  the  third  decury  ,• 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC,  475 

who,  having  exhausted  their  own  estates,  and  squandered  all 
the  fruits  of  Caesar's  kindness,  have  now  set  their  hearts  on 
our  fortunes.  Oh  that  trustworthy  right  hand  of  AntoniuSj 
with  which  he  has  murdered  many  citizens !  Oh  that  reg- 
ularly ratified  and  solemn  treaty  which  we  made  with  the 
Antonii !  Surely  if  Marcus  shall  attempt  to  violate  it,  the 
conscientious  piety  of  Lucius  will  call  him  back  from  such 
wickedness.  If  there  is  any  room  allowed  these  men  in  this 
city,  there  will  be  no  room  for  the  city  itself.  Place  before 
your  eyes,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  countenances  of  those  men, 
and  especially  the  countenances  of  the  Antonii.  Mark  their 
gait,  their  look,  their  face,  their  arrogance ;  mark  those  friends 
of  theirs  who  walk  by  their  side,  who  follow  them,  who  precede 
them.  What  breath  reeking  of  wine,  what  insolence,  what 
threatening  language  do  you  not  think  there  will  be  there? 
Unless,  indeed,  the  mere  fact  of  peace  is  to  soften  them,  and 
unless  you  expect  that,  especially  when  they  come  into  this  as- 
sembly, they  will  salute  every  one  of  us  kindly,  and  address  us 
courteously. 

ILT.  Do  you  not  recollect,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods!  what  resolutions  you  have  given  utterance  to  against 
those  men  1  You  have  repealed  the  acts  of  Marcus  Antonius ; 
you  have  taken  down  his  laws;  you  have  voted  that  they 
were  carried  by  violence,  and  with  a  disregard  of  the  auspices ; 
you  have  called  out  the  levies  throughout  all  Italy ;  you  have 
pronounced  that  colleague  and  ally  of  all  wickedness  a  public 
enemy.  What  peace  can  there  be  with  this  man  ?  Even  if 
he  were  a  foreign  enemy,  still,  after  such  actions  as  have  taken 
place,  it  would  be  scarcely  possible,  by  any  means  whatever, 
to  have  peace.  Though  seas  and  mountains,  and  vast  regions 
lay  between  you,  still  you  would  hate  such  a  man  without 
seeing  him.  But  these  men  will  stick  to  your  eyes,  and  when 
they  can,  to  your  very  throats  ;  for  what  fences  will  be  strong 
enough  for  us  to  restrain  savage  beasts  ? — Oh,  but  the  result 
of  war  is  uncertain.  It  is  at  all  events  in  the  power  of  brave 
men,  such  as  you  ought  to  be,  to  display  your  valor  (for  cer- 
tainly brave  men  can  do  that),  and  not  to  fear  the  caprice  of 
fortune. 

But  since  it  is  not  only  courage  but  wisdom  also  which 
is  expected  from  this  order  (although  these  qualities  appear 
scarcely  possible  to  be  separated,  still  let  us  separate  them 
here),  courage  bids  us  fight,  inflames  our  just  hatred,  urges 


47 G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

us  to  the  conflict,  summons  us  to  danger.    What  says  wisdom  1 
She  uses  more  cautious  counsels,  she  is  provident  for  the  fu- 
ture, she  is  in  every  respect  more  on  the  defensive.     What 
then  does  she  think?  for  we  must  obey  her,  and  we  are  bound 
to  consider  that  the  best  thing  which  is  arranged  in  the  most 
prudent  manner.     If  she  enjoins  me  to  think  nothing  of  more 
consequence  than  my  life,  not  to  fight  at  the  risk  of  my  life, 
but  to  avoid  all  danger,  1  will  then  ask  her  whether  I  am  also 
to  become  a  slave  when  I  have  obeyed  all  these  injunctions'? 
If  she  says,  yes ;  I  for  one  will  not  listen  to  that  Wisdom, 
however  learned  she  may  be ;  but  if  the  answer  is,  Preserve 
your  life  and  your  safety,  Preserve  your  fortune,  "  Preserve 
your  estate,  still,  however,  considering  all  these  things  of  less 
value  than  liberty ;  therefore  enjoy  these  things  if  you  can  do 
so  consistently  with  the  freedom  of  the  republic,  and  do  not 
abandon  liberty  for  them,  but  sacrifice  them  for  liberty,  as 
proofs  of  the  injury  you  have  sustained;" — then  I  shall  think 
that  I  really  am  listening  to  the  voice  of  Wisdom,  and  I  will 
obey  her  as  a  god.     Therefore,  if  when  we  have  received  those 
men  we  can  still  be  free,  let  us  subdue  our  hatred  to  them, 
and  endure  peace;  but  if  there  can  be  no  tranquillity  while 
those  men  are  in  safety,  then  let  us  rejoice  that  an  opportu- 
nity of  fighting  them  is  put  in  our  power.     For  so,  either 
(these  men  being  conquered)  we  shall  enjoy  the  republic  vic- 
torious, or,  if  we  be  defeated  (but  may  Jupiter  avert  that  dis- 
aster), we  shall  live,  if  not  with  an  actual  breath,  at  all  events 
in  the  renown  of  our  valor. 

IV.  But  Marcus  Lepidus,  having  been  a  second  time  styled 
Imperator,  Pontifex  Maximus,  a  man  who  deserved  excellent- 
ly well  of  the  republic  in  the  last  civil  war,  exhorts  us  to 
peace.  No  one,  O  conscript  fathers,  has  greater  weight  with 
me  than  Marcus  Lepidus,  both  on  account  of  his  personal  vir- 
tues, and  by  reason  of  the  dignity  of  his  family.  There  are 
also  private  reasons  which  influence  me,  such  as  great  services 
he  has  done  me,  and  some  kindnesses  which  I  have  done  him. 
But  the  greatest  of  his  services  I  consider  to  be  his  being  of 
such  a  disposition  as  he  is  toward  the  republic,  which  has 
at  all  times  been  dearer  to  me  than  my  life.  For  when  by 
his  influence  he  inclined  Magnus  Pompeius,  a  most  admirable 
young  man,  the  son  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  men,  to  peace, 
and  without  arms  released  the  republic  from  imminent  dan- 
ger of  civil  war,  by  so  doing  he  laid  me  under  as  great  obli 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  47f 

gations  as  it  was  in  the  power  of  any  man  to  do.  There- 
fore I  proposed  to  decree  to  him  the  most  ample  honors  that 
were  in  my  power,  in  which  you  agreed  with  me  ;  nor  have 
I  ceased  both  to  think  and  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of 
him.  The  republic  has  Marcus  Lepidus  bound  to  it  by  many 
pledges.  He  is  a  man  of  the  highest  rank,  of  the  greatest 
honors;  he  has  the  most  honorable  priesthood,  and  has  re- 
ceived numberless  distinctions  in  the  city.  There  are  monu- 
ments of  himself,  and  of  his  brother,  and  of  his  ancestors  ;  he 
has  a  most  excellent  wife,  children  such  as  any  man  might  de- 
sire, an  ample  family  estate,  untainted  with  the  blood  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  No  citizen  has  been  injured  by  him  ;  many 
have  been  delivered  from  misery  by  his  kindness  and  pity. 
Such  a  man  and  such  a  citizen  may  indeed  err  in  his  opinion, 
but  it  is  quite  impossible  for  him  in  inclination  to  be  unfriend- 
ly to  the  republic. 

Marcus  Lepidus  is  desirous  of  peace.  He  does  well  espe- 
cially if  he  can  make  such  a  peace  as  he  made  lately,  owing  to 
which  the  republic  will  behold  the  son  of  Cnaeus  Pompeius, 
and  will  receive  him  in  her  bosom  and  embrace ;  and  will 
think,  that  not  he  alone,  but  that  she  also  is  restored  to  her- 
self with  him.  This  was  the  reason  why  you  decreed  to  him 
a  statue  in  the  rostra  with  an  honorable  inscription,  and  why 
■  you  voted  him  a  triumph  in  his  absence.  For  although  he  had 
performed  great  exploits  in  war,  and  such  as  well  deserved  a 
triumph,  still  for  that  he  might  not  have  had  that  given  to 
him  which  was  not  given  to  Lucius  ^Emilius,  nor  to  iEmili- 
anus  Scipio,  nor  to  the  former  Africanus,  nor  to  Marius,  nor 
to  Pompeius,  who  had  the  conduct  of  greater  wars  than  he 
had,  but  because  he  had  put  an  end  to  a  civil  war  in  perfect 
silence,  the  first  moment  that  it  was  in  his  power,  on  that  ac- 
count you  conferred  on  him  the  greatest  honors. 

Y.  Do  you  think,  then,  O  Marcus  Lepidus,  that  the  An' 
tonii  will  be  to  the  republic  such  citizens  as  she  will  find  Pom- 
peius? In  the  one  there  is  modesty,  gravity,  moderation,  in- 
tegrity ;  in  them  (and  when  I  speak  of  them,  I  do  not  mean  to 
omit  one  of  that  band  of  pirates),  there  is  lust,  and  wickedness, 
and  savage  audacity  capable  of  every  crime.  I  entreat  of 
you,  O  conscript  fathers,  which  of  you  fails  to  see  this  which 
Fortune  herself,  who  is  called  blind,  sees?  For,  saving  the 
acts  of  Ca?sar,  which  we  maintain  for  the  sake  of  harmony,  his 
jwn  house  will  be  open  to  Pompeius,  and  he  will  redeem  it 


478  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

for  the  same  sum  for  which  Antonius  bought  it.     Yes,  1  s*y 
the  son  of  Cnams  Pompeius  will  buy  back  his  house.     O  mel- 
ancholy circumstance!      But  these  things  have  been  already 
lamented  long  and  bitterly  enough.     You  have  voted  a  sum 
of  money  to  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  equal  to  that  which  his  con- 
quering  enemy  had  appropriated  to  himself  of  his  father's 
property  in  the  distribution  of  his  booty.     But  I  claim  per- 
mission to  manage  this  distribution  myself,  as  due  to  my  con- 
nection and  intimacy  with  his  father.     He  will  buy  back  the 
villas,  the  houses,  and  some  of  the  estates  in  the  city  which 
Antonius  is  in  possession  of.     For  as  for  the  silver  plate,  the 
garments,  the  furniture,  and  the  wine  which  that  glutton  has 
made  away  with,  those  things  he  will  lose  without  forfeiting 
his  equanimity.     The  Alban  and  Firmian  villas  he  will  re- 
cover from  Dolabella ;  the  Tusculan  villa  he  will  also  recover 
from  Antonius.     And  these  Ansers  who  are  joining  in  the 
attack  on  Mutina  and  in  the  blockade  of  Decimus  Brutus  will 
be  driven  from  his  Falernian  villa.     There  are  many  others, 
perhaps,  who  will  be  made  to  disgorge  their  plunder,  but  their 
names  escape  my  memory.     I  say,  too,  that  those  men  who 
are  not  in  the  number  of  our  enemies,  will  be  made  to  re- 
store the  possessions  of  Pompeius  to  his  son  for  the  price  at 
which  they  bought  them.      It  was  the  act  of  a  sufficiently 
rash  man,  not  to  say  an  audacious  one,  to  touch  a  single  par- 
ticle of  that  property ;  but  who  will  have  the  face  to  endeav- 
or to  retain  it,  when  its  most  illustrious  owner  is  restored  tc 
his  country1?     Will  not  that  man  restore  his  plunder,  whe 
enfolding  the  patrimony  of  his  master  in  his  embrace,  cling' 
ing  to  the  treasure  like  a  dragon,  the  slave  of  Pompeius,  th«r 
freedman  of  Csesar,  has  seized  upon  his  estates  in  the  Luca' 
riian  district?    And  as  for  those  seven  hundred  millions  of  ses' 
terces  which  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  promised  to  the  young 
man,  they  will  be  recovered  in  such  a  manner  that  the  son  of 
Cna3us  Pompeius  will  appear  to  have  been  established  by  yow 
in  his  patrimony.     This  is  what  the  senate  must  do  ;  the  Ro- 
man people  will  do  the  rest  with  respect  to  that  family  which 
was  at  one  time  one  of  the  most  honorable  it  ever  saw.     In 
the  first  place,  it  will  invest  him  with  his  father's  honor  as  an 
augur,  for  which  rank  I  will  nominate  him  and  promote  his 
election,  in  order  that  I  may  restore  to  the  son  what  I  received 
from  the  father.      Which  of  these  men  will  the  Roman  people 
most  willingly  sanction  as  the  augur  of  the  all-powerful  and 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  479 

all-great  Jupiter,  whose  interpreters  and  messengers  we  have 
been  appointed, — Pompeius  or  Antonius  ?  It  seems  indeed,  to 
me,  that  Fortune  has  managed  this  by  the  divine  aid  of  the 
immortal  gods,  that,  leaving  the  acts  of  Caesar  firmly  ratified, 
the  son  of  Cnseus  Pompeius  might  still  be  able  to  recover  the 
dignities  and  fortunes  of  his  father. 

VI.  And  I  think,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  we  ought  not  to 
pass  over  that  fact  either  in  silence,  —  that  those  illustrious 
men  who  are  acting  as  embassadors,  Lucius  Paullus,  Quintus 
Thermus,  and  Caius  Faimius,  whose  inclinations  toward  the 
republic  you  are  thoroughly  acquainted  with,  and  also  with 
the  constancy  and  firmness  of  that  favorable  inclination,  report 
that  they  turned  aside  to  Marseilles  for  the  purpose  of  confer- 
ring with  Pompeius,  and  that  they  found  him  in  a  disposition 
very  much  inclined  to  go  with  his  troops  to  Mutina,  if  he  had 
not  been  afraid  of  offending  the  minds  of  the  veterans.  But 
he  is  a  true  son  of  that  father  who  did  quite  as  many  things 
wisely  as  he  did  bravely.  Therefore  you  perceive  that  his 
courage  was  quite  ready,  and  that  prudence  was  not  wanting 
to  him. 

And  this,  too,  is  what  Marcus  Lepidus  ought  to  take  care 
of, — not  to  appear  to  act  in  any  respect  with  more  arrogance 
than  suits  his  character.  For  if  he  alarms  us  with  his  army, 
he  is  forgetting  that  that  army  belongs  to  the  senate,  and  to 
the  Roman  people,  and  to  the  whole  republic,  not  to  himself. 
"But  he  has  the  power  to  use  it  as  if  it  were  his  own."  What 
then  ?  Does  it  become  virtuous  men  to  do  every  thing  which 
it  is  in  their  power  to  do?  Suppose  it  to  be  a  base  thing? 
Suppose  it  to  be  a  mischievous  thing?  Suppose  it  be  abso- 
lutely unlawful  to  do  it  ? 

But  what  can  be  more  base,  or  more  shameful,  or  more  ut- 
terly unbecoming,  than  to  lead  an  army  against  the  senate, 
against  one's  fellow-citizens,  against  one's  country?  Or  what 
can  deserve  greater  blame  than  doing  that  which  is  unlawfull 
But  it  is  not  lawful  for  any  one  to  lead  an  army  against  his 
country?  if  indeed  we  say  that  that  is  lawful  which  is  per- 
mitted by  the  laws  or  by  the  usages  and  established  principles 
of  our  ancestors.  For  it  does  not  follow  that  whatever  a  man 
has  power  to  do  is  lawful  for  him  to  do ;  nor,  if  he  be  not 
hindered,  is  he  on  that  account  permitted  to  do  so.  For  to 
you,  O  Lepidus,  as  to  your  ancestors,  your  country  has  given 
an  army  to  be  employed  in  her  cause.     With  this  army  you 


480  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

are  to  repel  the  enemy,  you  are  to  extend  the  boundaries  of 
the  empire,  you  are  to  obey  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome, 
if  by  any  ehance  they  direct  you  to  some  other  object. 

VII.  If  these  are  your  thoughts,  then  are  you  really  Mar- 
cus Lepidus  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  the  great-grandson  of  Mar- 
cus Lepidus,  Pontifex  Maximus.  If  you  judge  that  every  tiling- 
is  lawful  for  men  to  do  that  they  have  power  to  do,  then  be- 
ware lest  you  seem  to  prefer  acting  on  precedents  set  by  those 
who  have  no  connection  with  you,  and  these,  too,  modern  prec- 
edents, to  being  guided  by  the  ancient  examples  in  your  own 
family.  But  if  you  interpose  your  authority  without  having 
recourse  to  arms,  in  that  case  indeed  I  praise  you  more ;  but 
beware  lest  this  thing  itself  be  quite  unnecessary.  For  al- 
though there  is  all  the  authority  in  you  that  there  ought  to  be 
in  a  man  of  the  highest  rank,  still  the  senate  itself  does  not 
despise  itself;  nor  was  it  ever  more  wise,  more  firm,  more 
courageous.  We  are  all  hurried  on  with  the  most  eager  zc:il 
to  recover  our  freedom.  Such  a  general  ardor  on  the  part  of 
the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  can  not  be  extinguished  by  the 
authority  of  any  one:  we  hate  a  man  who  would  extinguish 
it ;  we  are  angry  with  him,  and  resist  him  ;  our  arms  can  not 
be  wrested  from  our  hands  ;  we  are  deaf  to  all  signals  for  re- 
treat, to  all  recall  from  the  combat.  We  hope  for  the  happiest 
success  ;  we  will  prefer  enduring  the  bitterest  disaster  to  being 
slaves.  Caesar  has  collected  an  invincible  army.  Two  per- 
fectly brave  consuls  are  present  with  their  forces.  The  vari- 
ous and  considerable  reinforcements  of  Lucius  Plancus,  consul 
elect,  are  not  wanting.  The  contest  is  for  the  safety  of  Deci- 
mus  Brutus.  One  furious  gladiator,  with  a  band  of  most  infa- 
mous robbers,  is  waging  war  against  his  country,  against  our 
household  gods,  against  our  altars  and  our  hearths,  against 
four  consuls.  Shall  we  yield  to  him?  Shall  we  listen  to  the 
conditions  which  he  proposes?  Shall  we  believe  it  possible 
for  peace  to  be  made  with  him  ? 

VIII.  But  there  is  danger  of  our  being  overwhelmed.  I 
ihave  no  fear  that  the  man  who  can  not  enjoy  his  own  most 
abundant  fortunes,  unless  all  the  good  men  are  saved,  will 
betray  his  own  safety.  It  is  nature  which  first  makes  good 
citizens,  and  then  fortune  assists  them.  For  it  is  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  all  good  men  that  the  republic  should  be  safe ;  but 
that  advantage  appears  more  clearly  in  the  case  of  those  who 
are  fortunate.      Who  is  more  fortunate  than  Lent  ul  us,  as   I 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  481 

hari  before,  and  who  is  more  sensible?  The  Roman  people 
saw  his  sorrow  and  his  tears  at  the  Lupercal  festival.  They 
saw  how  miserable,  how  overwhelmed  he  was  when  Antonius 
placed  a  diadem  on  Caesar's  head  and  preferred  being  his  slave 
to  being  his  colleague.  And  even  if  he  had  been  able  to  ab- 
stain from  his  other  crimes  and  wickednesses,  still  on  account 
of  that  one  single  action  I  should  think  him  worthy  of  all 
punishment.  For  even  if  he  himself  was  calculated  to  be  a 
slave,  why  should  he  impose  a  master  on  us?  And  if  his 
childhood  had  borne  the  lusts  of  those  men  who  were  tyrants 
over  him,  was  he  on  that  account  to  prepare  a  master  and  a 
tyrant  to  lord  it  over  our  children  ?  Therefore  since  that  man 
was  slain,  he  himself  has  behaved  to  all  others  in  the  same 
manner  as  he  wished  him  to  behave  to  us. 

For  in  what  country  of  barbarians  was  there  ever  so  foul 
and  cruel  a  tyrant  as  Antonius,  escorted  by  the  arms  of  bar- 
barians, has  proved  in  this  city?  When  Caesar  was  exercising 
the  supreme  power,  we  used  to  come  into  the  senate,  if  not 
with  freedom,  at  all  events  with  safety.  But  under  this  arch- 
pirate  (for  why  should  I  say  tyrant  ?)  these  benches  were  occu- 
pied by  Itureans.  On  a  sudden  he  hastened  to  Brundusium, 
in  order  to  come  against  this  city  from  thence  with  a  regular 
army.  He  deluged  Suessa,  a  most  beautiful  town,  now  of 
municipal  citizens,  formerly  of  most  honorable  colonists,  with 
the  blood  of  the  bravest  soldiers.  At  Brundusium  he  mas- 
sacred the  chosen  centurions  of  the  Martial  legion  in  the  lap 
of  his  wife,  who  was  not  only  most  avaricious  but  also  most 
cruel.  After  that  with  what  fury,  with  what  eagerness  did  he 
hurry  on  to  the  city,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  slaughter  of  every 
virtuous  man !  But  at  that  time  the  immortal  gods  brought 
to  us  a  protector  whom  we  had  never  seen  nor  expected. 

IX.  For  the  incredible  and  godlike  virtue  of  Caesar  checked 
the  cruel  and  frantic  onslaught  of  that  robber,  whom  then  that 
madman  believed  that  he  was  injuring  with  his  edicts,  igno- 
rant that  all  the  charges  which  he  was  falsely  alleging  against 
that  most  righteous  young  man,  were  all  very  appropriate  tc 
the  recollections  of  his  own  childhood.  He  entered  the  city, 
with  what  an  escort,  or  rather  with  what  a  troop !  when  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  amid  the  groans  of  the  Eoman 
people,  he  was  threatening  the  owners  of  property,  taking  notes 
of  the  houses,  and  openly  promising  to  divide  the  city  among 
his  followers.      He  returned  to  his  soldiers;  then  came  that 

X 


4^2  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mischievous  assembly  at  Tibur.  From  thence  he  hurried  to 
the  city;  the  senate  was  convened  at  the  Capitol.  A  decree 
with  the  authority  of  the  consuls  was  prepared  for  proscribing 
the  young  man  ;  when  all  on  a  sudden  (for  he  was  aware  that 
the  Martial  legion  had  encamped  at  Alba)  news  is  brought 
him  of  the  proceedings  of  the  fourth  legion. 

Alarmed  at  that,  he  abandoned  his  intention  of  submitting 
a  motion  to  the  senate  respecting  Caesar.  He  departed  not  by 
the  regular  roads,  but  by  the  by-lanes,  in  the  robe  of  a  gen- 
eral; and  on  that  very  self-same  day  he  trumped  up  a  count 
less  number  of  resolutions  of  the  senate  ;  all  of  which  he  pub* 
lished  even  before  they  were  drawn  up.  From  thence  it  was 
not  a  journey,  but  a  race  and  flight  into  Gaul.  He  thought 
that  Caesar  was  pursuing  him  with  the  fourth  legion,  with  the 
Martial  legion,  with  the  veterans,  whose  very  name  he  could 
not  endure  for  fright.  Then,  as  he  was  making  his  way  into 
Gaul,  Decimus  Brutus  opposed  him ;  who  preferred  being  him- 
self surrounded  by  the  waves  of  the  whole  war,  to  allowing 
him  either  to  retreat  or  advance ;  and  who  put  Mutina  on 
him  as  a  sort  of  bridle  to  his  exultation.  And  when  he  had 
blockaded  that  city  with  his  works  and  fortifications,  and 
when  the  dignity  of  a  most  flourishing  colony,  and  the  majes- 
ty of  a  consul  elect,  were  both  insufficient  to  deter  him  from 
his  parricidal  treason,  then  (I  call  you,  and  the  Roman  peo- 
ple, and  all  the  gods  who  preside  over  this  city,  to  witness), 
against  my  will,  and  in  spite  of  my  resistance  and  remon- 
strance, three  embassadors  of  consular  rank  were  sent  to  that 
robber,  to  that  leader  of  gladiators,  Marcus  Antonius. 

Who  ever  was  such  a  barbarian  1  Who  was  ever  so  sav- 
age? so  brutal?  He  would  not  listen  to  them  ;  he  gave  them 
no  answer;  and  he  not  only  despised  and  showed  that  he  con- 
sidered of  no  importance  those  men  who  were  with  him,  but 
still  more  us,  by  whom  these  men  had  been  sent.  And  after- 
ward what  wickedness,  or  what  crime  was  there  which  thai 
traitor  abstained  from?  He  blockaded  your  colonists,  and  the 
army  of  the  Roman  people,  and  your  general,  and  your  consul 
elect.  He  lays  waste  the  lands  of  a  nation  of  most  excellent 
citizens.  Like  a  most  inhuman  enemy  he  threatens  all  virtu- 
ous men  with  crosses  and  tortures. 

X.  Now  what  peace,  O  Marcus  Lepidus,  can  exist  with  this 
man?  when  it  does  not  seem  that  there  is  even  any  punishment 
which' the  Roman  people  can  think  adequate  to  Ins  crimes  1 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  483 

But  if  any  one  lias  hitherto  been  able  to  doubt  the  fact,  that 
there  can  be  nothing  whatever  in  common  between  this  order 
and  the  Roman  people  and  that  most  detestable  beast,  let  him 
at  least  cease  to  entertain  such  a  doubt,  when  he  becomes  ac- 
quainted with  this  letter  which  I  have  just  received,  it  having 
been  sent  to  me  by  Hirtius  the  consul.  While  I  read  it,  and 
while  1  briefly  discuss  each  paragraph,  I  beg,  O  conscript  fa- 
thers, that  you  will  listen  to  me  most  attentively,  as  you  have 
hitherto  done. 

"  Antonius  to  Hirtius  and  Caesar." 

He  does  not  call  himself  imperator,  nor  Hirtius  consul,  nor 
Caesar  propraetor.  This  is  cunningly  done  enough.  He  pre- 
ferred laying  aside  a  title  to  which  he  had  no  right  himself,  to 
giving  them  their  proper  style. 

"  When  I  heard  of  the  death  of  Caius  Trebonius,  I  was  not 
more  rejoiced  than  grieved." 

Take  notice  why  he  says  he  rejoiced,  why  he  says  that  he 
was  grieved ;  and  then  you  will  be  more  easily  able  to  decide 
the  question  of  peace. 

"  It  was  a  matter  of  proper  rejoicing  that  a  wicked  man  had 
paid  the  penalty  due  to  the  bones  and  ashes  of  a  most  illustri- 
ous man,  and  that  the  divine  power  of  the  gods  had  shown  it- 
self before  the  end  of  the  current  year,  by  showing  the  chas- 
tisement of  that  parricide  already  inflicted  in  some  cases,  and 
impending  in  others." 

O  you  Spartacus !  for  what  name  is  more  fit  for  you  ?  you 
whose  abominable  wickedness  is  such  as  to  make  even  Catiline 
seem  tolerable.  Have  you  dared  to  write  that  it  is  a  matter  of 
rejoicing  that  Trebonius  has  suffered  punishment?  that  Tre- 
bonius was  wicked?  What  was  his  crime,  except  that  on  the 
ides  of  March  he  withdrew  you  from  the  destruction  which  you 
had  deserved?  Come;  you  rejoice  at  this;  let  us  see  what  it 
is  that  excites  your  indignation. 

"  That  Dolabella  should  at  this  time  have  been  pronounced 
a  public  enemy  because  he  has  slain  an  assassin ;  and  that  the 
son  of  a  buffoon  should  appear  dearer  to  the  Roman  people 
than  Caius  Caesar,  the  father  of  his  country,  are  circumstances 
to  be  lamented." 

Why  should  you  be  sad  because  Dolabella  has  been  pro- 
nounced a  public  enemy?  Why?  Are  you  not  aware  that 
you  yourself — by  the  fact  of  an  enlistment  having  taken  place 
"11  over  Italy,  and  of  the  consuls  being:  sent  forth  to  war,  ar  1 


484  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

of  Caesar  having  received  great  honors,  and  of  the  garb  of  war 
having  been  assumed — have  also  been  pronounced  an  enemy? 
And  what  reason  is  there,  O  you  wicked  man,  for  lamenting 
that  Dolabella  has  been  declared  an  enemy  by  the  senate?  a 
body  which  you  indeed  think  of  no  consequence  at  all ;  but 
you  make  it  your  main  object  in  waging  war  utterly  to  de- 
stroy the  senate,  and  to  make  all  the  rest  of  those  who  are 
either  virtuous  or  wealthy  follow  the  fate  of  the  highest  order 
of  all.  But  he  calls  him  the  son  of  a  buffoon.  As  if  that 
noble  Roman  knight  the  father  of  Trebonius  were  unknown 
to  us.  And  does  he  venture  to  look  down  on  any  one  because 
of  the  meanness  of  his  birth,  when  he  has  himself  children  by 
Padia? 

XI.  "But  it  is  the  bitterest  thing  of  all  that  you,  O  Aulus 
Hirtius,  who  have  been  distinguished  by  Cajsa?-"s  kindness,  and 
who  have  been  left  by  him  in  a  condition  whirib  you  yourself 
marvel  at.     *     *     * " 

1  can  not  indeed  deny  that  Aulus  Hirtius  was  distinguished 
by  Caesar,  but  such  distinctions  are  only  of  value- when  con- 
ferred on  virtue  and  industry.  But  you,  who  can  not  deny 
that  you  also  were  distinguished  by  Caesar,  what  would  yoi? 
have  been  if  he  had  not  showered  so  many  kindnesses  on  you? 
Where  would  your  own  good  qualities  have  borne  you  %  Where 
would  your  birth  have  conducted  you?  You  would  have  spent 
the  whole  period  of  your  manhood  in  brothels,  and  cook-shops, 
and  in  gambling  and  drinking,  as  you  used  to  do  when  you 
were  always  burying  your  brains  and  your  beard  in  the  laps 
of  actresses. 

"  And  you  too,  O  boy — " 

He  calls  him  a  boy  whom  he  has  not  only  experienced  and 
shall  again  experience  to  be  a  man,  but  one  of  the  bravest  of 
men.  It  is  indeed  the  name  appropriate  to  his  age  ;  but  he  is 
the  last  man  in  the  world  who  ought  to  use  it,  when  it  is  his 
own  madness  that  has  opened  to  this  boy  the  path  to  glory. 

"  You  who  owe  every  thing  to  his  name — " 

He  does  indeed  owe  every  thing,  and  nobly  is  he  paying  it. 
For  if  he  was  the  father  of  his  country,  as  you  call  him  (1  will 
see  hereafter  what  my  opinion  of  that  matter  is),  why  is  not 
this  youth  still  more  truly  our  father,  to  whom  it  certainly  is 
owing  that  we  are  now  enjoying  life,  saved  out  of  your  most 
guilty  hands'? 

"Are  taking  pains  to  have  Dolabella  legally  condemned." 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  485 

A  base  action,  truly !   by  which  the  authority  of  this  most 
honorable  order  is  defended  against  the  insanity  of  a  most  in 
human  gladiator. 

"  And  to  effect  the  release  of  this  poisoner  from  blockade." 

Do  you  dare  to  call  that  man  a  poisoner  who  has  found  a 
remedy  against  your  own  poisoning  tricks?  and  whom  you  are 
besieging  in  such  a  manner,  O  you  new  Hannibal  (or  if  there 
was  ever  any  abler  general  than  he),  as  to  blockade  yourself, 
and  to  be  unable  to  extricate  yourself  from  your  present  posi- 
tion, should  you  be  ever  so  desirous  to  do  so  ?  Suppose  you 
retreat;  they  will  all  pursue  you  from  all  sides.  Suppose  you 
stay  where  you  are;  you  will  be  caught.  You  are  very  right, 
certainly,  to  call  him  a  poisoner,  by  whom  you  see  that  your 
present  disastrous  condition  has  been  brought  about. 

"  In  order  that  Cassius  and  Brutus  may  become  as  power- 
ful as  possible." 

"Would  you  suppose  that  he  is  speaking  of  Censorinus,  or  of 
Ventidius,  or  of  the  Antonii  themselves?  But  why  should  they 
be  unwilling  that  those  men  should  become  powerful,  who  are 
not  only  most  excellent  and  nobly  born  men,  but  who  are  also 
united  with  them  in  the  defense  of  the  republic  ? 

"  In  fact,  you  look  upon  the  existing  circumstances  as  you 
did  on  the  former  ones." 

What  can  he  mean? 

"  You  used  to  call  the  camp  of  Pompeius  the  senate." 

XII.  Should  we  rather  call  your  camp  the  senate?  In 
which  you  are  the  only  man  of  consular  rank,  you  whose 
whole  consulship  is  effaced  from  every  monument  and  regis- 
tex  ,  and  two  praetors,  who  are  afraid  that  they  will  lose  some- 
thing by  us, — a  groundless  fear.  For  we  are  maintaining  all 
the  grants  made  by  Caesar ;  and  men  of  praetorian  rank,  Phil- 
adelphus  Annius,  and  that  innocent  Gallius ;  and  men  of  aedi- 
litian  rank,  he  on  whom  I  have  spent  so  much  of  my  lungs 
and  voice,  Bestia,  and  that  patron  of  good  faith  and  cheater 
of  his  creditors,  Trebellius,  and  that  bankrupt  and  ruined  man 
Quintus.  Caelius,  and  that  support  of  the  friends  of  Antonius 
Cotyla  Yarius,  whom  Antonius  for  his  amusement  caused  at  a 
banquet  to  be  flogged  with  thongs  by  the  public  slaves.  Men 
of  septemviral  rank,  Lento  and  Nucula,  and  then  that  delight 
and  darling  of  the  Roman  people,  Lucius  Antonius.  And  for 
tribunes,  first  of  all  two  tribunes  elect,  Tuilus  Hostilius,  who 
was  so  full  of  his  privileges  as  to  write  up  his  name  on  th* 


48(i  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

gate  of  Rome  ;  and  who,  when  he  found  himself  unable  to  be- 
tray his  general,  deserted  him.  The  other  tribune  elect  is  a 
man  of  the  name  of  Yiseius ;  I  know  nothing  about  him ;  but 
I  hear  that  he  is  (as  they  say)  a  bold  robber ;  who,  however, 
they  say  was  once  a  bathing-man  at  Pisaurum,  and  a  very 
good  hand  at  mixing  the  water.  Then  there  are  others  too, 
of  tribunitian  rank:  in  the  first  place,  Titus  Plancus;  a  man 
who,  if  he  had  had  any  affection  for  the  senate,  would  never 
have  burned  the  senate-house.  Having  been  condemned  for 
which  wickedness,  he  returned  to  that  city  by  force  of  arms 
from  which  he  was  driven  by  the  power  of  the  law.  But, 
however,  this  is  a  case  common  to  him  and  to  many  others 
who  are  very  unlike  him.  But  this  is  quite  true  which  men 
are  in  the  habit  of  saying  of  this  Plancus  in  a  proverbial  way, 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  him  to  die  unless  his  legs  are 
broken.1  They  are  broken,  and  still  he  lives.  But  this,  like 
many  others,  is  a  service  that  has  been  done  us  by  Aquila. 

XIII.  There  is  also  in  that  camp  Decius,  descended,  as  I 
believe,  from  the  great  Decius  Mus ;  accordingly  he  gained2 
the  gifts  of  Ceesar.  And  so  after  a  long  interval  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  Decii  is  renewed  by  this  illustrious  man.  And  how 
can  I  pass  over  Saxa  Decidius,  a  fellow  imported  from  the 
most  distant  nations,  in  order  that  we  might  see  that  man 
tribune  of  the  people  whom  we  had  never  beheld  as  a  citizen  ? 
There  is  also  one  of  the  Sasernae  ;  but  all  of  them  have  such 
a  resemblance  to  one  another,  that  I  may  make  a  mistake  as 
to  their  first  names.  Nor  must  I  omit  Exitius,  the  brother 
of  Philadelphus  the  quasstor ;  lest,  if  I  were  to  be  silent  about 
that  most  illustrious  young  man,  I  should  seem  to  be  envying 
Antonius.  There  is  also  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Asinius, 
a  voluntary  senator,  having  been  elected  by  himself,  lie  saw 
the  senate-house  open  after  the  death  of  Caesar,  he  changed 
his  shoes,  and  in  a  moment  became  a  conscript  father.  Sex- 
tus  Albedius  I  do  not  know,  but  still  I  have  not  fallen  in  with 
any  one  so  fond  of  evil-speaking,  as  to  deny  that  he  is  worthy 
of  a  place  in  the  senate  of  Antonius- 

I  dare  say  that  I  have  passed  over  some  names ;  bnt  still  I 
could  not  refrain  from  mentioning  those  who  did  occur  to  me. 

1  That  is,  without  being  crucified  like  a  slave. 

3  The  Latin  here  is  "  Itaque  Csesaris  munera  rosit," — playing  on  the 
name  nius,  mouse  ;  but  Orellius  thinks  the  whole  passage  corrupt,  and 
indeed  there  is  evident  corruption  in  the  text  here  in  many  placet 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  487 

Relying  then  on  this  senate,  he  looks  down  on  the  senate  ' 
which  supported  Pompeius,  in  which  ten  of  us  were  men  of 
consular  rank  ;  and  if  they  were  all  alive  now  this  war  would 
never  have  arisen  at  all.  Audacity  would  have  succumbed  to 
authority.  But  what  great  protection  there  would  have  been 
in  the  rest  may  be  understood  from  this,  that  I,  when  left 
alone  of  all  that  band,  with  your  assistance  crushed  and  broke 
the  audacity  of  that  triumphant  robber. 

XIV.  But  if  Fortune  had  not  taken  from  us  not  only  Ser- 
vius  Sulpicius,  and  before  him,  his  colleague  Marcus  Marcel- 
lus, — what  citizens!  What  men!  If  the  republic  had  been 
able  to  retain  the  two  consuls,  men  most  devoted  to  their 
countrv,  who  were  driven  together  out  of  Italv ;  and  Lucius 
Afranius,  that  consummate  general;  and  Publius  Lentulus, 
a  citizen  who  displayed  his  extraordinary  virtue  on  other  occa- 
sions, and  especially  in  the  securing  my  safe  return ;  and  Bib- 
ulus,  whose  constant  and  firm  attachment  to  the  republic  has 
at  all  times  been  deservedly  praised ;  and  Lucius  Domitius, 
that  most  excellent  citizen  ;  and  Appius  Claudius,  a  man 
equally  distinguished  for  nobleness  of  birth  and  for  attach- 
ment to  the  state ;  and  Publius  Scipio,  a  most  illustrious  man, 
closely  resembling  his  ancestors.  Certainly  with  these  men 
of  consular  rank,1  the  senate  which  supported  Pompeius  was 
not  to  be  despised. 

Which,  then,  was  more  just,  which  was  more  advantageous 
for  the  republic,  that  Cnaeus  Pompeius,  or  that  Antonius  the 
brother  who  bought  all  Pompeius's  property,  should  live? 
And  then  what  men  of  praetorian  rank  were  with  us!  the 
chief  of  whom  was  Marcus  Cato,  being  indeed  the  chief  man 
of  any  nation  in  the  world  for  virtue.  Why  need  I  speak  of 
the  other  most  illustrious  men?  you  know  them  all.  I  am 
more  afraid  lest  you  should  think  me  tedious  for  enumerating 
so  many,  than  ungrateful  for  passing  over  any  one.  And 
what  men  of  asdilitian  rank !  and  of  tribunitian  rank  !  and  of 
qusestorian  rank !  Why  need  I  make  a  long  story  of  it  ?  so 
great  was  the  dignity  of  the  senators  of  our  party,  so  great  too 
were  their  numbers,  that  those  men  have  need  of  some  very 
valid  excuse  who  did  not  join  that  camp.  Now  listen  to  the 
rest  of  the  letter. 

'  He  means  Lucius  JEmilius  Paullus,  ?jnd  Caius  Claudius  Marcellus, 
who  were  consuls  the  year  after  Servius  Sulpicius  and  Marcus  Claudius 
Marcellus,  x.v.c.  704. 


488  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

XV.   "You  have  the  defeated  Cicero  for  your  general." 

I  am  the  more  glad  to  hear  that  word  "general,"  because 
he  certainly  uses  it  against  his  will ;  for  as  for  his  saying 
"defeated,"  1  do  not  mind  that;  for  it  is  my  fate  that  I  can 
neither  be  victorious  nor  defeated  without  the  republic  being 
so  at  the  same  time. 

"You  are  fortifying  Macedonia  with  armies." 

Yes,  indeed,  and  we  have  wrested  one  from  your  brother, 
who  does  not  in  the  least  degenerate  from  you. 

"  You  have  intrusted  Africa  to  Varus,  who  has  been  twice 
taken  prisoner." 

Here  he  thinks  that  he  is  making  out  a  case  against  his 
own  brother  Lucius. 

"  You  have  sent  Capius  into  Syria." 

Do  you  not  see  then,  O  Antonius,  that  the  whole  world  is 
open  to  our  party,  but  that  you  have  no  spot,  out  of  your  own 
fortifications,  where  you  can  set  your  foot  % 

"  You  have  allowed  Casca  to  discharge  the  office  of  tribune." 

What  then'?  "Were  we  to  remove  a  man,  as  if  he  had  been 
Marullus,1  or  Caasetius,  to  whom  we  own  it,  that  this  and 
many  other  things  like  this  can  never  happen  for  the  future  ? 

"You  have  taken  away  from  the  Luperci  the  revenues 
which  Julius  Caesar  assigned  to  them." 

Does  he  dare  to  make  mention  of  the  Luperci  f  Does  he 
not  shudder  at  the  recollection  of  that  day  on  which,  smelling 
of  wine,  reeking  with  perfumes,  and  naked,  he  dared  to  exhort 
the  indignant  Roman  people  to  embrace  slavery  ? 

"  You,  by  a  resolution  of  the  senate,  have  removed  the  col- 
onies of  the  veterans  which  had  been  legally  settled." 

Have  we  removed  them,  or  have  we  rather  ratified  a  law 
which  was  passed  in  the  comitia  centuriata"?  See,  rather, 
whether  it  is  not  you  who  have  ruined  these  veterans  ((hose 
at  least  who  are  ruined),  and  settled  them  in  a  place  from 
which  they  themselves  now  feel  that  they  shall  never  be  able 
to  make  their  escape. 

"  You  are  promising  to  restore  to  the  people  of  Marseilles 
what  has  been  taken  from  them  by  the  laws  of  war." 

I  am  not  going  to  discuss  the  laws  of  war.  It  is  a  discus- 
sion far  more  easy  to  begin  than  necessary.  But  take  notice 
of  this,  O  conscript  fathers,  what  a  born  enemy  to  the  repub- 

1  These  two  were  tribunes  of  the  people,  who  had  been  dispossessed 
of  their  offices  by  Julius  Caesar. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  489 

lie  Antonius  is,  who  is  so  violent  in  his  hatred  of  that  city 
which  he  knows  to  have  been  at  all  times  most  firmly  attached 
to  this  republic. 

XVI.  "  [Do  you  not  know]  that  no  one  of  the  party  of 
Pompeius,  who  is  still  alive,  can,  by  the  Hirtian  law,  possess 
any  rank  ?" 

What,  I  should  like  to  know,  is  the  object  of  now  making 
mention  of  the  Hirtian  law? — a  law  of  which  I  believe  the 
framer  himself  repents  no  less  than  those  against  whom  it 
was  passed.  According  to  my  opinion,  it  is  utterly  wrong  to 
call  it  a  law  at  all ;  and,  even  if  it  be  a  law,  we  ought  not  to 
think  it  a  law  of  Hirtius. 

"  You  have  furnished  Brutus  with  money  belonging  to 
Apuleius." 

Well?  Suppose  the  republic  had  furnished  that  excellent 
man  with  all  its  treasures  and  resources,  what  good  man 
would  have  disapproved  of  it  1  For  without  money  he  could 
not  have  supported  an  army,  nor  without  an  army  could  he 
have  taken  your  brother  prisoner. 

*'  You  have  praised  the  execution  of  Paetus  and  Menedemus, 
men  who  had  been  presented  with  the  freedom  of  the  citv. 
and  who  were  united  by  ties  of  hospitality  to  Caesar." 

We  do  not  praise  what  we  have  never  even  heard  of;  we 
were  very  likely,  in  such  a  state  of  confusion,  and  such  a  crit- 
ical period  of  the  republic,  to  busy  our  minds  about  two  worth- 
less Greeklings! 

"  You  took  no  notice  of  Theopompus  having  been  stripped, 
and  driven  out  by  Trebonius,  and  compelled  to  flee  to  Alex- 
andria." 

The  senate  has  indeed  been  very  guilty!  We  have  taken 
no  notice  of  that  great  man  Theopompus!  Why,  who  on 
earth  knows  or  cares  where  he  is,  or  what  he  is  doing ;  or7 
indeed,  whether  he  is  alive  or  dead  ? 

"You  endure  the  sight  of  Sergius  Galba  in  your  camp, 
armed  with  the  same  dagger  with  which  he  slew  Caesar." 

I  shall  make  you  no  reply  at  all  about  Galba ;  a  most  gal- 
lant and  courageous  citizen.  He  will  meet  you  face  to  face ; 
and  he  being  present,  and  that  dagger  which  you  reproach 
him  with,  shall  give  you  your  answer. 

"  You  have  enlisted  my  soldiers,  and  many  veterans,  undei 
the  pretense  of  intending  the  destruction  of  those  men  who 
slew  Caesar ;   and  then,  when  they  expected  no  such  step,  you 

X2 


490  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  led  them  on  to  attack  their  quaestor,  their  general,  and 
their  former  comrades ! " 

No  doubt  Ave  deceived  them  ;  we  humbugged  them  com- 
pletely !  no  doubt  the  Martial  legion,  the  fourth  legion,  and 
the  veterans  had  no  idea  what  was  going  on !  They  were 
not  following  the  authority  of  the  senate,  or  the  liberty  of  the 
Roman  people. — They  were  anxious  to  avenge  the  death  of 
Caesar,  which  they  all  regarded  as  an  act  of  destiny !  No 
doubt  you  were  the  person  whom  they  were  anxious  to  see 
safe,  and  happy,  and  flourishing ! 

XVII.  Oh  miserable  man,  not  only  in  fact,  but  also  in  the 
circumstance  of  not  perceiving  yourself  how  miserable  you  are ! 
But  listen  to  the  most  serious  charge  of  all. 

"  In  fact,  what  have  you  not  sanctioned, — what  have  you 
not  done?  what  would  be  done  if  he  were  to  come  to  life 
again,  by? — " 

By  whom  %  For  I  suppose  he  means  to  bring  forward  some 
instance  of  a  very  wicked  man. 

"  Cnaeus  Pompeius  himself?" 

Oh  how  base  must  wre  be,  if  indeed  we  have  been  imitating 
Cnaeus  Porcqieius ! 

"  Or  his  son,  if  he  could  be  at  home  I " 

He  soon  will  be  at  home,  believe  me ;  for  in  a  very  few 
days  he  will  enter  on  his  home,  and  on  his  father's  villas. 

"Lastly,  you  declare  that  peace  can  not  be  made  unless  I 
either  allow  Brutus  to  quit  Mutina,  or  supply  him  with 
corn." 

It  is  others  who  say  that:  I  say,  that  even  if  you  were  to 
do  so,  there  never  could  be  peace  between  this  city  and  you. 

"What?  is  this  the  opinion  of  those  veteran  soldiers,  to 
whom  as  yet  either  course  is  open  ?" 

I  do  not  see  that  there  is  any  course  so  open  to  them,  as 
now  to  begin  and  attack  that  general  whom  they  previously 
were  so  zealous  and  unanimous  in  defending.1 

1  There  is  some  difficulty  here.  Many  editors  propose  to  read  "  offen- 
derint,"  which  Orellius  thinks  would  hardly  he  Latin.  He  says,  "An- 
tonius  is  here  speaking  of  those  veterans  who  had  deserted  him  indeed,  hut 
who,  at  the  time  of  his  writing  this  letter,  had  not  acted  against  him." 
Therefore,  he  says  it  is  open  to  them  to  hecotne  reconciled  to  him  again 
(wishing  to  conciliate  them,  and  to  alarm  his  enemies).  On  the  other 
hand,  Cicero  replies.  Nothing  is  so  open  to  them  now  as  to  do  what  their 
duty  to  the  republic  requires.  That  is  to  say,  openly  to  attack  you,  whose 
party  they  have  already  abandoned. 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  491 

u  Since  you  yourselves  have  sold  yourselves  for  flatteries 
and  poisoned  gifts." 

Are  those  men  depraved  and  corrupted,  who  have  been  per- 
suaded  to  pursue  a  most  detestable  enemy  with  most  right- 
eous war? 

"  But  you  say,  you  are  bringing  assistance  to  troops  who 
are  hemmed  in.  I  have  no  objection  to  their  being  saved,  and 
departing  wherever  you  wish,  if  they  only  allow  that  man  to 
be  put  to  death  who  has  deserved  it." 

How  very  kind  of  him  !  The  soldiers  availing  themselves 
of  the  liberality  of  Antonius  have  deserted  their  general,  and 
have  fled  in  alarm  to  his  enemy ;  and  if  it  had  not  been  for 
them,  Dolabella,  in  offering  the  sacrifice  which  he  did  to  the 
shade  of  his  general,  would  not  have  been  beforehand  with 
Antonius  in  propitiating  the  spirit  of  his  colleague  by  a  simi- 
lar ofterins:. 

"  You  write  me  word  that  there  has  been  mention  of  peace 
made  in  the  senate,  and  that  five  embassadors  of  consular  rank 
have  been  appointed.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  those  men, 
who  drove  me  in  haste  from  the  city,  when  1  offered  the  fairest 
conditions,  and  when  I  was  even  thinking  of  relaxing  some- 
what of  them,  should  now  think  of  acting  with  moderation  or 
humanity.  And  it  is  hardly  probable,  that  those  men  who 
have  pronounced  Dolabella  a  public  enemy  for  a  most  right- 
eous action,  should  bring  themselves  to  spare  us  who  are  in- 
fluenced bv  the  same  sentiments  as  he." 

Does  it  appear  a  trifling  matter,  that  he  confesses  himself  a 
partner  with  Dolabella  in  all  his  atrocities'?  Do  you  not  see 
that  all  these  crimes  flow  from  one  source L?  He  himself  con- 
fesses, shrewdly  and  correctly  enough,  that  those  who  have 
pronounced  Dolabella  a  public  enemy  for  a  most  righteous  ac- 
tion (for  so  it  appears  to  Antonius),  can  not  possibly  spare  him 
who  agrees  with  Dolabella  in  opinion. 

XVIII.  What  can  you  do  with  a  man  who  puts  on  paper 
and  records  the  fact,  that  his  agreement  with  Dolabella  is  so 
complete,  that  he  would  kill  Trebonius,  and,  if  he  could,  Bru- 
tus and  Cassias  too,  with  every  circumstance  of  torture ;  and 
inflict  the  same  punishment  on  us  also?  Certainly,  a  man 
who  makes  so  pious  and  fair  a  treaty  is  a  citizen  to  be  taken 
care  of!  He,  also,  complains  that  the  conditions  which  he 
offered,  those  reasonable  and  modest  conditions,  were  rejected  ; 
namely,  that  he  was  to  have  the  farther  Gaul, — the  province 


492  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

the  most  suitable  of  all  for  renewing  and  carrying  on  the  war ; 
that  the  legionaries  of  the  Alauda  should  be  judges  in  the 
third  decury  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  there  shall  be  an  asylum  for 
all  crimes,  to  the  indelible  disgrace  of  the  republic ;  that  his 
own  acts  should  be  ratified,  his, — when  not  one  trace  of  his 
consulship  has  been  allowed  to  remain !  He  showed  his  re- 
gard also  for  the  interests  of  Lucius  Antonius,  who  had  been 
a  most  equitable  surveyor  of  private  and  public  domains,  with 
Nucula  and  Lento  for  his  colleagues. 

"  Consider  then,  both  of  you,  whether  it  is  more  becoming 
and  more  advantageous  for  your  party,  for  you  to  seek  to 
avenge  the  death  of  Trebonius,  or  that  of  Caesar;  and  wheth- 
er it  is  more  reasonable  for  you  and  me  to  meet  in  battle,  in 
order  that  the  cause  of  the  Pompeians,  which  has  so  frequent- 
ly had  its  throat  cut,  may  the  more  easily  revive  ;  or  to  agree 
together,  so  as  not  to  be  a  laughing-stock  to  our  enemies." 

If  its  throat  had  been  cut,  it  never  could  revive.  "Which," 
says  he,  "  is  more  becoming."  In  this  Avar  he  talks  of  what 
is  becoming  I  "And  more  advantageous  for  your  party." — 
"Parties,"  you  senseless  man,  is  a  suitable  expression  for  the 
forum,  or  the  senate  house.  You  have  declared  a  wicked  war 
against  your  country  %  you  are  attacking  Mutina  ;  you  are 
besieging  the  consul  elect ;  two  consuls  are  carrying  on  war 
against  you  ;  and  with  them,  Caesar,  the  propraetor ;  all  Italy 
is  armed  against  you ;  and  then  do  you  call  yours  "  a  party," 
instead  of  a  revolt  from  the  republic  1  "  To  seek  to  avenge 
the  death  of  Trebonius,  or  that  of  Caesar."  We  have  avenged 
Trebonius  sufficiently  by  pronouncing  Dolabella  a  public  ene- 
my. The  death  of  Caesar  is  best  defended  by  oblivion  and  si- 
lence. But  take  notice  what  his  object  is. — AVhen  he  thinks 
that  the  death  of  Caesar  ought  to  be  revenged,  he  is  threaten- 
ing with  death,  not  those  only  who  perpetrated  that  action, 
but  those  also  who  were  not  indignant  at  it. 

XIX.  "  Men  who  will  count  the  destruction  of  either  you 
or  me  gain  to  them.  A  spectacle  which  as  yet  fortune  herself 
has  taken  care  to  avoid,  unwilling  to  see  two  armies  which  be- 
long to  one  body  fighting,  with  Cicero  acting  as  master  of  the 
show ;  a  fellow  who  is  so  far  happy  that  he  has  cajoled  you 
both  with  the  same  compliments  as  those  with  which  he  boast- 
ed that  he  had  deceived  Caesar." 

He  proceeds  in  his  abuse  of  me,  as  if  he  had  been  very  for- 
tunate in   all  his  former  reproaches  of  me ;  but  I  will  brand 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  .         493 

him. with  the  most  thoroughly  deserved  marks  of  infamy,  and 
pillory  him  for  the  everlasting  recollection  of  posterity.  I  a 
"  master  of  the  show  of  gladiators  !"  indeed  he  is  not  wholly 
wrong,  for  I  do  wish  to  see  the  worst  party  slain,  and  the  best 
victorious.  He  writes  that  "whichever  of  them  are  destroyed 
we  shall  count  as  so  much  gain."  Admirable  gain,  when,  if 
you,  O  Antonius,  are  victorious  (may  the  gods  avert  such  a 
disaster !)  the  death  of  those  men  who  depart  from  life  untor- 
tured  will  be  accounted  happy !  He  says  that  Hirtius  and 
Caesar  "  have  been  cajoled  by  me  by  the  same  compliments." 
I  should  like  to  know  what  compliment  has  been  as  yet  paid 
to  Hirtius  by  me ;  for  still  more  and  greater  ones  than  have 
been  paid  him  already  are  due  to  Caesar.  But  do  you,  O  An- 
tonius, dare  to  say  that  Caesar,  the  father,  was  deceived  by 
me?  You,  it  was  you,  I  -  .  who  really  slew  him  at  the 
Lupercal  games.  Why,  O  most  ungrateful  of  men,  have  you 
abandoned  your  office  of  priest  to  him  1  But  remark  now  the 
admirable  wisdom  and  consistency  of  this  great  and  illustrious 
man. 

"  I  am  quite  resolved  to  brook  no  insult  either  to  myself  or 
to  my  friends;  nor  to  desert  that  party  which  Pompeius  hated, 
nor  to  allow  the  veterans  to  be  removed  from  their  abodes ; 
nor  to  allow  individuals  to  be  draped  out  to  torture,  nor  to 
violate  the  faith  which  I  pledged  to  Dolabella." 

I  say  nothing  of  the  rest  of  this  sentence,  "  the  faith  pledged 
to  Dolabella,"  to  that  most  holy  man,  this  pious  gentleman 
will  by  no  means  violate.  "What  faith  1  Was  it  a  pledge  to 
murder  every  virtuous  citizen,  to  partition  the  city  and  Italy, 
to  distribute  the  provinces  among,  and  to  hand  them  over  to 
be  plundered  by,  their  followers  ?  For  what  else  was  there 
which  could  have  been  ratified  by  treaty  and  mutual  pledges 
between  Antonius  and  Dolabella,  those  foul  and  parricidal 
traitors  ? 

"Nor  to  violate  my  treaty  of  alliance  with  Lepidus,  the 
most  conscientious  of  men." 

You  have  any  alliance  with  Lepidus  or  with  any  (I  will  not 
say  virtuous  citizen,  as  he  is,  but  with  any)  man  in  his  senses ! 
Your  object  is  to  make  Lepidus  appear  either  an  impious  man, 
or  a  madman.  But  you  are  doing  no  good  (although  it  is  a 
hard  matter  to  speak  positively  of  another),  especially  with  a 
man  like  Lepidus,  whom  I  will  never  fear,  but  I  shall  hope 
good  things   of  him   unless  I  am   prevented  from  doing  so. 


494  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Lepidus  wished  to  recall  you  from  your  phrensy,  not  to  be 
the  assistant  of  your  insanity.  But  you  seek  your  friends  not 
only  among  conscientious  men,  but  among  most  conscientious 
men.  And  you  actually,  so  godlike  is  your  piety,  invent  a 
new  word  to  express  it  which  has  no  existence  in  the  Latin 
lansuajre. 

"Nor  to  betray  Plancus,  the  partner  of  my  counsels." 

Plancus,  the  partner  of  your  counsels  ?  He,  whose  ever- 
memorable  and  divine  virtue  brings  a  light  to  the  republic 
(unless,  mayhap,  you  think  that  it  is  as  a  reinforcement  to 
you  that  he  has  come  with  those  most  gallant  legions,  and 
with  a  numerous  Gallic  force  of  both  cavalry  and  infantry) ; 
and  who,  if  before  his  arrival  you  have  not  by  your  punish- 
ment made  atonement  to  the  republic  for  your  wickedness, 
will  be  chief  leader  in  this  war.  For  although  the  first  suc- 
cors that  arrive  are  more  useful  to  the  republic,  yet  the  last 
are  the  more  acceptable. 

XX.  However,  at  last  he  recollects  himself  and  begins  to 
philosophize. 

"If  the  immortal  gods  assist  me,  as  I  trust  that  they  will, 
going  on  my  way  with  proper  feelings,  I  shall  live  happily ; 
but  if  another  fate  awaits  me,  I  have  already  a  foretaste  of 
joy  in  the  certainty  of  your  punishment.  For  if  the  Pom* 
peians  when  defeated  are  so  insolent,  yx>u  will  be  sure  to  ex- 
perience what  they  will  be  when  victorious." 

You  are  very  welcome  to  your  foretaste  of  joy.  For  you 
are  at  war  not  only  with  the  Pompeians,  but  with  the  entire 
republic.  Every  one,  gods  and  men,  the  highest  rank,  the 
middle  class,  the  lowest  dregs  of  the  people,  citizens  and 
foreigners,  men  and  -women,  free  men  and  slaves,  all  hate 
you.  We  saw  this  the  other  day  on  some  false  news  that 
came ;  but  we  shall  soon  see  it  from  the  way  in  which  true 
news  is  received.  And  if  you  ponder  these  things  with  your- 
self a  little,  you  will  die  with  more  equanimity,  and  greater 
comfort. 

"  Lastly,  this  is  the  sum  of  my  opinion  and  determination ; 
I  will  bear  with  the  insults  offered  me  by  my  friends,  if  they 
themselves  are  willing  to  forget  that  they  have  offered  them  ; 
or  if  they  are  prepared  to  unite  with  me  in  avenging  Caesar's 
death." 

Now  that  they  know  this  resolution  of  Antonius,  do  yon 
thitik  that  Aulus  Ilirtius  and  Caius  Pansa,  the  consuls,  can 


THE  THIRTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  495 

hesitate  to  pass  over  to  Antonius?  to  besiege  Brutus?  to  be 
eager  to  attack  Mutina  %  Why  do  I  say  Hirtius  and  Pansa  ? 
Will  Caesar,  that  young  man  of  singular  piety,  be  able  to  re- 
strain himself  from  seeking  to  avenge  the  injuries  of  his  father 
in  the  blood  of  Decimus  Brutus  1  Therefore,  as  soon  as  they 
had  read  this  letter,  the  course  which  they  adopted  was  to  ap- 
proach nearer  to  the  fortifications.  And  on  this  account  we 
ought  to  consider  Caesar  a  still  more  admirable  young  man ; 
and  that  a  still  greater  kindness  of  the  immortal  gods  which 
gave  him  to  the  republic,  as  he  has  never  been  misled  by  the 
specious  use  of  his  father's  name  ;  nor  by  any  false  idea  of  pi- 
ety and  aiFection.  He  sees  clearly  that  the  greatest  piety  con  • 
sists  in  the  salvation  of  one's  country.  But  if  it  were  a  con- 
test between  parties,  the  name  of  which  is  utterly  extinct,  then 
wrould  Antonius  and  Ventidius  be  the  proper  persons  to  uphold 
the  party  of  Caesar,  rather  than  in  the  first  place,  Caesar,  a 
young  man  full  of  the  greatest  pifcty  and  the  most  affectionate 
recollection  of  his  parent?  and  next  to  him  Pansa  and  Hirti- 
us, who  held  (if  I  may  use  such  an  expression)  the  two  horns 
of  Caesar,  at  the  time  when  that  deserred  to  be  called  a  party. 
But  what  parties  are  these,  when  the  one  proposes  to  itself  to 
uphold  the  authority  of  the  senate,  the  liberty  of  the  Roman 
people,  and  the  safety  of  the  republic,  while  the  other  fixes  its 
eyes  on  the  slaughter  of  all  good  men,  and  on  the  partition  of 
the  city  and  of  Italy ! 

XXI.  Let  us  come  at  last  to  the  end. 

"I  do  not  believe  that  embassadors  are  coming — " 

He  knows  me  well. 

"Toa  place  where  war  exists." 

Especially  with  the  example  of  Dolabella  before  our  eyes. 
Embassadors,  I  should  think,  will  have  privileges  more  re- 
spected than  two  consuls  against  whom  he  is  bearing  arms; 
or  than  Caesar,  whose  father's  priest  he  is ;  or  than  the  consul 
elect,  whom  he  is  attacking ;  or  than  Mutina,  which  he  is  be- 
sieging ;  or  than  his  country,  which  he  is  threatening  with 
fire  and  sword. 

"  When  they  do  come  I  shall  see  what  they  demand1.'5 

Plagues  and  tortures  seize  you  !  Will  anyone  come  to  you, 
unless  he  be  a  man  like  Ventidius  ?  We  sent  men  t)f  the  very 
highest  character  to  extinguish  the  rising  conflagration  ;  you 
rejected  them.  Shall  we  now  send  men  when  the  fire  has  be- 
come so  large  and  has  risen  to  such  a  height,  and  when  you 


49G  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  left  yourself  no  possible  room,  not  only  for  peace,  but 
not  even  for  a  surrender*? 

I  have  read  you  this  letter,  O  conscript  fathers,  not  because 
I  thought  it  worth  reading,  but  in  order  to  let  you  see  all  his 
parricidal  treasons  revealed  by  his  own  confessions.  Would 
Marcus  Lepidus,  that  man  so  richly  endowed  with  all  the 
gifts  of  virtue  and  fortune,  if  he  saw  this  letter,  either  wish 
for  peace  with  this  man,  or  even  think  it  possible  that  peace 
should  be  made  ?  "  Sooner  shall  fire  and  water  mingle,"  as 
some  poet  or  other  says ;  sooner  shall  any  thing  in  the  world 
happen  than  either  the  republic  become  reconciled  to  the  An- 
tonii,  or  the  Antonii  to  the  republic.  Those  men  are  mon- 
sters, prodigies,  portentous  pests  of  the  republic.  It  would 
be  better  for  this  city  to  be  uplifted  from  its  foundations  and 
transported,  if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  into  other  regions, 
where  it  should  never  hear  of  the  actions  or  the  name  of  the 
Antonii,  than  for  it  to  see  those  men,  driven  out  by  the  valor 
of  Caesar,  and  hemmed  in  by  the  courage  of  Brutus,  inside 
these  walls.  The  most  desirable  thing  is  victory ;  the  next 
best  thing  is  to  think  no  disaster  too  great  to  bear  in  defense 
of  the  disrnitv  and  freedom  of  one's  country.  The  remaining 
alternative,  I  will  not  call  it  the  third,  but  the  lowest  of  all, 
is  to  undergo  the  greatest  disgrace  from  a  desire  of  life. 

Since,  then,  this  is  the  case,  as  to  the  letters  and  messages 
of  Marcus  Lepidus,  that  most  illustrious  man,  I  agree  with 
Servilius.  And  I  farther  give  my  vote,  that  Magnus  Pom- 
peius,  the  son  of  Cnseus,  has  acted  as  might  have  been  expect- 
ed from  the  affection  and  zeal  of  his  father  and  forefathers 
toward  the'  republic,  and  from  his  own  previous  virtue  and 
industry  and  loyal  principles  in  promising  to  the  senate  and 
people  of  Home  his  own  assistance,  and  that  of  those  men 
whom  lie  had  with  him ;  and  that  that  conduct  of  his  is 
grateful  and  acceptable  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Koine, 
and  that  it  shall  tend  to  his  own  honor  and  dignity.  This 
may  either  be  added  to  the  resolution  of  the  senate  which  is 
before  us,  or  it  may  be  separated  from  it  and  drawn  up  by  it- 
self, so  as  to  let  Pompeius  be  seen  to  be  extolled  in  a  distinct 
resolution  of  the  senate. 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  497 


THE  FOURTEENTH  (AND  LAST)  ORATION  OF  M.  T.  CICERO 
AGAINST  MARCUS  ANTONIUS. 

CALLED    ALSO    THE    FOURTEENTH    PHILIPPIC. 


THE  ARGUMENT. 

After  the  last  speech  was  delivered,  Brutus  gained  great  advantages  in 
Macedonia  over  Caius  Antonius,  and  took  him  prisoner.  He  treated 
him  with  great  lenity,  so  much  so  as  to  displease  Cicero,  who  remon- 
strated with  him  strongly  on  his  design  of  setting  him  at  liberty.  He 
was  also  under  some  apprehension  as  to  the  steadiness  of  Plancus's  loy- 
alty to  the  senate  ;  but  on  his  writing  to  that  body  to  assure  them  of 
his  obedience,  Cicero  procured  a  vote  of  some  extraordinary  honors  to 
him. 

Cassius  also  about  the  same  time  was  very  successful  in  Syria,  of  which 
he  wrote  Cicero  a  full  account.  Meantime  reports  were  being  spread 
in  the  city  by  the  partisans  of  Antonius,  of  his  success  before  Mutina ; 
and  even  of  his  having  gained  over  the  consuls.  Cicero  too  was  per- 
sonally much  annoyed  at  a  report  which  they  spread  of  his  having 
formed  the  design  of  making  himself  master  of  the  city  and  assuming 
the  title  of  Dictator  ;  but  when  Apuleius,  one  of  his  friends,  and  a  trib- 
une of  the  people,  proceeded  to  make  a  speech  to  the  people  in  Cic- 
ero's justification,  the  people  all  cried  out  that  he  had  never  done  any 
thing  which  was  not  for  the  advantage  of  the  republic.  About  the  same 
time  news  arrived  of  a  victory  gained  over  Antonius  at  Mutina. 

Pansa  was  now  on  the  point  of  joining  Hirtius  with  four  new  legions,  and 
Antonius  endeavored  to  surprise  him  on  the  road  before  he  could  ef- 
fect that  junction.  A  severe  battle  ensued,  in  which  Hirtius  came  to 
Pansa's  aid,  and  Antonius  was  defeated  w7ith  great  loss.  On  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  news  the  populace  assembled  about  Cicero's  house,  and 
carried  him  in  triumph  to  the  Capitol.  The  next  day  Marcus  Cornu- 
tus,  the  praetor,  summoned  the  senate  to  deliberate  on  the  letters  re- 
ceived from  the  consuls  and  Octavius,  giving  an  account  of  the  victory. 
Servilius  declared  his  opinion  that  the  citizens  should  relinquish  the 
saguim,  or  robe  of  war ;  and  that  a  supplication  should  be  decreed  in 
honor  of  the  consuls  and  Octavius.  Cicero  rose  next  and  delivered  the 
following  speech,  objecting  to  the  relinquishment  of  the  robe  of  war, 
and  blaming  Servilius  for  not  calling  Antonius  an  enemy. 

The  measures  which  he  himself  proposed  were  carried. 

I.  If,  O  conscript  fathers,  while  I  learned  from  the  letters 
which  have  been  read  that  the  army  of  our  most  wicked  ene- 
mies had  been  defeated  and  routed,  I  had  also  learned  what 
we  all  wish  for  above  all  things,  and  which  we  do  suppose  has 
resulted  from  that  victory  which  has  been  achieved, — namely, 


498  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

that  Decimus  Brutus  had  already  quitted  Mutina, — then  1 
should  without  any  hesitation  give  my  vote  for  our  returning 
to  our  usual  drees  out  of  joy  at  the  safety  of  that  citizen  on 
account  of  whose  danger  it  was  that  we  adopted  the  robe  of 
war.  But  before  any  news  of  that  event  which  the  city  looks 
for  with  the  greatest  eagerness  arrives,  we  have  sufficient  re;  - 
son  indeed  for  joy  at  this  most  important  and  most  illustrious 
battle  ;  but  reserve,  I  beg  you,  your  return  to  your  usual  dress 
for  the  time  of  complete  victory.  But  the  completion  of  this 
war  is  the  safety  of  Decimus  Brutus. 

But  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  proposal  that  our  dress 
shall  be  changed  just  for  to-day,  and  that  to-morrow  we 
should  again  come  forth  in  the  garb  of  war  ?  Eather  when 
we  have  once  turned  to  that  dress  which  we  wish  and  desire 
to  assume,  let  us  strive  to  retain  it  forever ;  for  this  is  not 
only  discreditable,  but  it  is  displeasing  also  to  "the  immortal 
gods,  to  leave  their  altars,  which  we  have  approached  in  the 
attire  of  peace,  for  the  purpose  of  assuming  the  garb  of  war. 
And  I  notice,  O  conscript  fathers,  that  there  are  some  who 
favor  this  proposal:  whose  intention  and  design  is,  as  they  see 
that  that  will  be  a  most  glorious  day  for  Decimus  Brutus  on 
which  we  return  to  our  usual  dress  out  of  joy  for  his  safety, 
to  deprive  him  of  this  great  reward,  so  that  it  may  not  be 
handed  down  to  the  recollection  of  posterity  that  the  Roman 
people  had  recourse  to  the  garb  of  war  on  account  of  the  dan- 
ger of  one  single  citizen,  and  then  returned  to  their  gowns 
of  peace  on  account  of  his  safety.  Take  away  this  reason, 
smd  you  will  find  no  other  for  so  absurd  a  proposal.  But 
do  you,  O  conscript  fathers,  preserve  your  authority,  adhere 
to  your  own  opinions,  preserve  in  your  recollection  what  you 
have  often  declared,  that  the  whole  result  of  this  entire  war 
depends  on  the  life  of  one  most  brave  and  excellent  man. 

II.  For  the  purpose  of  effecting  the  liberation  of  Decimus 
Brutus,  the  chief  men  of  the  state  were  sent  as  embassadors, 
to  give  notice  to  that  enemy  and  parricidal  traitor  to  retire 
from  Mutina;  for  the  sake  of  preserving  that  same  Decimus 
Brutus,  Aulus  Ilirtius,  the  consul,  went  by  lot  to  conduct  the 
war;  a  man  the  weakness  of  whose  bodily  health  was  made 
up  for  by  the  strength  of  his  courage,  and  encouraged  by  the 
hope  of  victory;  Ca-sar,  too,  after  he,  with  an  army  levied  by 
his  own  resources  and  on  his  own  authority,  had  delivered 
the  republic  from  the  first  dangers  that  assailed  it,  in  order 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  499 

to  prevent  any  subsequent  wicked  attempts  from  being  origin- 
ated, departed  to  assist  in  the  deliverance  of  the  same  Brutus, 
and  subdued  some  family  vexation  which  he  may  have  felt  by 
his  attachment  to  his  country.  What  other  object  had  Caius 
Pansa  in  holding  the  levies  which  he  did,  and  in  collecting 
money,  and  in  carrying  the  most  severe  resolutions  of  the 
senate  against  Antonius,  and  in  exhorting  us,  and  in  inviting 
the  Roman  people  to  embrace  the  cause  of  liberty,  except  to 
insure  the  deliverance  of  Decimus  Brutus  !  For  the  Roman 
people  in  crowds  demanded  at  his  hands  the  safety  of  Decimus 
Brutus  with  such  unanimous  outcries,  that  he  was  compelled 
to  prefer  it  not  only  to  any  consideration  of  his  own  personal 
advantage,  but  even  to  his  own  necessities.  And  that  end 
we  now,  O  conscript  fathers,  are  entitled  to  hope  is  either  at 
the  point  of  being  achieved,  or  is  actually  gained ;  but  it  is 
right  for  the  reward  of  our  hopes  to  be  reserved  for  the  issue 
and  event  of  the  business,  lest  we  should  appear  either  to 
have  anticipated  the  kindness  of  the  gods  by  our  over  precipi- 
tation, or  to  have  despised  the  bounty  of  fortune  through  our 
own  folly. 

But  since  the  manner  of  your  behavior  shows  plainly  enough 
what  vou  think  of  this  matter,  I  will  come  to  the  letters  which 
have  arrived  from  the  consuls  and  the  propraetor,  after  I  have 
said  a  few  words  relating  to  the  letters  themselves. 

III.  The  swords,  O  conscript  fathers,  of  our  legions  and  / 
armies  have  been  stained  with,  or  rather,  I  should  say,  dipped 
deep  in  blood  in  two  battles  which  have  taken  place  under 
the  consuls,  and  a  third,  which  has  been  fought  under  the 
command  of  Caesar.  If  it  was  the  blood  of  enemies,  then 
great  is  the  piety  of  the  soldiers ;  but  it  is  nefarious  wicked- 
ness if  it  was  the  blood  of  citizens.  How  long,  then,  is  that 
man,  who  has  surpassed  all  enemies  in  wickedness,  to  be 
spared  the  name  of  enemy  ?  unless  you  wish  to  see  the  very 
swords  of  our  soldiers  trembling  in  their  hands  while  they 
doubt  whether  they  are  piercing  a  citizen  or  an  enemy.  You 
vote  a  supplication ;  you  do  not  call  Antonius  an  enemy. 
Very  pleasing,  indeed  to  the  immortal  gods  will  our  thanks- 
givings be,  very  pleasing  too  the  victims,  after  a  multitude  of 
our  citizens  has  been  slain  !  "  For  the  victory,'*  says  the  pro- 
poser of  the  supplication,  "over  wicked  and  audacious  men." 
For  that  is  what  this  most  illustrious  man  calls  them;  ex- 
pressions of  blame  suited  to  lawsuits  carried  on  in  the  city, 


500  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

not  denunciations  of  searing  infamy  such  as  deserved  by  in- 
ternecine  war.  I  suppose  they  are  forging  wills,  or  trespass- 
ing on  their  neighbors,  or  cheating  some  young  men  ;  for  it 
is  men  implicated  in  these  and  similar  practices  that  we  are 
in  the  habit  of  terming  wicked  and  audacious.  One  man, 
the  foulest  of  all  banditti,  is  waging  an  irreconcilable  wai 
against  four  consuls.  He  is  at  the  same  time  carrying  on 
war  against  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome.  He  is  (although 
he  is  himself  hastening  to  destruction,  through  the  disasters 
which  he  has  met  with)  threatening  all  of  us  with  destruction, 
and  devastation,  and  torments,  and  tortures.  He  declares 
that  that  inhuman  and  savage  act  of  Dolabella's,  which  no 
nation  of  barbarians  would  have  owned,  was  done  by  his  ad- 
vice ;  and  what  he  himself  would  do  in  this  city,  if  this  very 
Jupiter,  who  now  looks  down  upon  us  assembled  in  his  tem- 
ple, had  not  repelled  him  from  this  temple  and  from  these 
walls,  he  showed,  in  the  miseries  of  those  inhabitants  of  Par- 
ma, whom,  virtuous  and  honorable  men  as  they  were,  and 
most  intimately  connected  with  the  authority  of  this  order, 
and  with  the  dignity  of  the  Roman  people,  that  villain  and 
monster,  Lucius  Antonius,  that  object  of  the  extraordinary 
detestation  of  all  men,  and  (if  the  gods  hate  those  whom  they 
ought)  of  all  the  gods  also,  murdered  with  every  circumstance 
of  cruelty.  My  mind  shudders  at  the  recollection,  O  conscript 
fathers,  and  shrinks  from  relating  the  cruelties  which  Lucius 
Antonius  perpetrated  on  the  children  and  wives  of  the  citizens 
of  Parma.  For  whatever  infamy  the  Antonii  have  willingly 
undergone  in  their  own  persons  to  their  own  infamy,  they  tri- 
umph in  the  fact  of  having  inflicted  on  others  by  violence. 
But  it  is  a  miserable  violence  which  they  offered  to  them ; 
most  unholy  lust,  such  as  the  whole  life  of  the  Antonii  is  pol- 
luted with. 

IV.  Is  there  then  any  one  who  is  afraid  to  call  those  men 
enemies,  whose  wickedness  he  admits  to  have  surpassed  even 
the  inhumanity  of  the  Carthaginians?  For  in  what  city,  when 
taken  by  storm,  did  Hannibal  even  behave  with  such  ferocity 
as  Antonius  did  in  Parma,  which  he  filched  by  surprise?  Un- 
less, mayhap,  Antonius  is  not  to  be  considered  the  enemy  of 
this  colony,  and  of  the  others  toward  which  he  is  animated 
with  the  same  feelings.  But  if  he  is  beyond  all  question  the 
enemy  of  the  colonies  and  municipal  towns,  then  what  do  you 
consider  him  with  respect  to  this  city  which  he  is  so  eager  for, 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  501 

to  satiate  the  indigence  of  his  band  of  robbers'?  which  that 
skillful  and  experienced  surveyor  of  his,  Saxa,  has  already 
marked  out  with  his  rule.  Recollect,  I  entreat  you,  in  the 
name  of  the  immortal  gods,  O  conscript  fathers,  what  we  have 
been  fearing  for  the  last  two  days,  in  consequence  of  infamous 
rumors  carefully  disseminated  by  enemies  within  the  walls. 
Who  has  been  able  to  look  upon  his  children  or  upon  his  wife 
without  weeping !  who  has  been  able  to  bear  the  sight  of  his 
home,  of  his  house,  and  his  household  gods  1  Already  all  of 
us  were  expecting  a  most  ignominious  death,  or  meditating  a 
miserable  flight.  And  shall  we  hesitate  to  call  the  men  at 
whose  hands  Ave  feared  all  these  things  enemies?  If  any  one 
should  propose  a  more  severe  designation  I  will  willingly  agree 
to  it ;  I  am  hardly  content  with  this  ordinary  one,  and  will 
certainly  not  employ  a  more  moderate  one. 

Therefore,  as  we  are  bound  to  vote,  and  as  Servilius  has  al- 
ready proposed  a  most  just  supplication  for  those  letters  which 
have  been  read  to  you  ;  I  will  propose  altogether  to  increase 
.  the  number  of  the  days  which  it  is  to  last,  especially  as  it  is 
to  be  decreed  in  honor  of  three  generals  conjointly.  But  first 
of  all  I  will  insist  on  styling  those  men  imperator  by  whose 
valor,  and  wisdom,  and  good  fortune  we  have  been  released 
from  the  most  imminent  danger  of  slavery  and  death.  Indeed, 
who  is  there  within  the  last  twenty  years  who  has  had  a  sup- 
plication decreed  to  him  without  being  himself  styled  impera- 
tor, though  he  may  have  performed  the  most  insignificant  ex- 
ploits, or  even  almost  none  at  all.  Wherefore,  the  senator 
who  spoke  before  me  ought  either  not  to  have  moved  for  a 
supplication  at  all,  or  he  ought  to  have  paid  the  usual  a^d 
established  compliment  to  those  men  to  whom  even  nswjfcdi. 
extraordinary  honors  are  justly  due.  d  me. 

V.  Shall  the  senate,  according  to  this  custom  ;ers,  not  so 
now  obtained,  style  a  man  imperator  if  he  has  sliouky  ■—  nj  a 
sand  or  two  of  Spaniards,  or  Gauls,  or  Thraciai  }-  &a   4s 
that  so  many  legions  have  been  routed,  now  that\j*      <?    v^  ^ 
titude   of  enemies  has   been   slain, — ay,  enemies,^  *V  4? 
though  our  enemies  within  the  city  do  not  fancy  th^^o^' 
sion, — shall  we  pay  to  our  most  illustrious  generals  ty   fy 
of  a  supplication,  and  refuse  them  the  name  of  im]K 
For  with  what  great  honor,  and  joy,  and  exultation 
the  deliverers  of  this  city  themselves  to  enter  into  this 
pie,  when  yesterday,  on  account  of  the  exploits  which  xncy 


502  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

have  performed,  the  Roman  people  carried  me  in  an  ovation, 
almost  in  a  triumph  from  my  house  to  the  Capitol,  and  back 
again  from  the  Capitol  to  my  own  house?  That  is  indeed 
in  my  opinion  a  just  and  genuine  triumph,  when  men  who 
have  deserved  well  of  the  republic  receive  public  testimony 
to  their  merits  from  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  senate. 
For  if,  at  a  time  of  general  rejoicing  on  the  part  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  they  addressed  their  congratulations  to  one  in- 
dividual, that  is  a  great  proof  of  their  opinion  of  him  ;  if  they 
gave  him  thanks,  that  is  a  greater  still ;  if  they  did  both,  then 
nothing  more  honorable  to  him  can  be  possibly  imagined. 

Are  you  saying  all  this  of  yourself1?  some  one  will  ask.  It 
is  indeed  against  my  will  that  I  do  so ;  but  my  indignation  at 
injustice  makes  me  boastful,  contrary  to  my  usual  habit.  Is 
it  not  sufficient  that  thanks  should  not  be  given  to  men  who 
have  well  earned  them,  by  men  who  are  ignorant  of  the  very 
nature  of  virtue  ?  And  shall  accusations  and  odium  be  at- 
tempted to  be  excited  against  those  men  who  devote  all  their 
thoughts  to  insuring  the  safety  of  the  republic?  For  you 
well  know  that  there  has  been  a  common  report  for  the  last 
few  days,  that  the  day  before  the  wine  feast,1  that  is  to  say, 
on  this  very  day,  I  was  intending  to  come  forth  with  the 
fasces  as  dictator.  One  would  think  that  this  story  was  in- 
vented against  some  gladiator,  or  robber,  or  Catiline,  and  not 
against  a  man  who  had  prevented  any  such  step  from  ever 
being  taken  in  the  republic.  Was  I,  who  defeated  and  over- 
threw and  crushed  Catiline,  when  he  was  attempting  such 
wickedness,  a  likely  man  myself  all  on  a  sudden  to  turn  out 
Catiline  ?  Under  what  auspices  could  I,  an  augur,  take  those 
un-?es?  How  long  should  I  have  been  likely  to  keep  them? 
.out  it  was  j  ^0  (jeiiVer  them  as  my  successor  ?  The  idea  of 
most  unhe,lvnig  Deen  so  wicked  as  to  invent  such  a  tale!  or 
luted  with.  0  Relieve  it !  In  what  could  such  a  suspicion,  or 
nn^  e,  J^  ^gossip,  have  originated  ? 
5^  ^  oN  ^^  c^n,  as  you  know,  during  the  last  three  or  four  days 
^J  $  ^  of  bad  news  from  Mutina  has  been  creeping  abroad, 
■sfcsloyal  part  of  the  citizens,  inflated  with  exultation  and 


*9 


<> 


1  There  were  two  wine  feasts,  Vinalia,  at  Rome  :  the  vinalia  urbana, 
celebrated  on  the  twenty-third  of  April ;  and  the  vinalia  rustica,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  October.  This  was  the  urbana  vinalia  ;  on  which  occasion 
the  wine-casks  which  had  been  tilled  in  the  autumn  were  tasted  for  the 
lir.it  time. 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  503 

insolence,  began  to  collect  in  one  place,  at  that  senate-house 
which  has  been  more  fatal  to  their  party  than  to  the  republic. 
There,  while  they  were  forming  a  plan  to  massacre  us,  and 
were  distributing  the  different  duties  among  one  another,  and 
settling  who  was  to  seize  on  the  Capitol,  who  on  the  rostra, 
who  on  the  gates  of  the  city,  they  thought  that  all  the  citizens 
would  flock  to  me.  And  in  order  to  bring  me  into  unpopu- 
larity, and  even  into  danger  of  my  life,  they  spread  abroad 
this  report  about  the  fasces.  They  themselves  had  some  idea 
of  bringing  the  fasces  to  my  house ;  and  then,  on  pretense  of 
that  having  been  done  by  my  wish,  they  had  prepared  a  band 
of  hired  ruffians  to  make  an  attack  on  me  as  on  a  tyrant,  and 
a  massacre  of  all  of  you  was  intended  to  follow.  The  fact  is 
already  notorious,  O  conscript  fathers,  but  the  origin  of  all 
this  wickedness  will  be  revealed  in  its  fitting  time. 

Therefore  Fublius  Apuleius,  a  tribune  of  the  people,  who 
ever  since  my  consulship  has  been  the  witness  and  partaker 
of,  and  my  assistant  in  all  my  designs  and  all  my  dangers, 
could  not  endure  the  grief  of  witnessing  my  indignation.  He 
convened  a  numerous  assembly,  as  the  whole  Roman  people 
were  animated  with  one  feeling  on  the  subject.  And  when 
in  the  harangue  which  he  then  made,  he,  as  was  natural  from 
our  great  intimacy  and  friendship,  was  going  to  exculpate  me 
from  all  supicion  in  the  matter  of  the  fasces,  the  whole  as- 
sembly cried  out  with  one  voice,  that  I  had  never  had  any 
intentions  with  regard  to  the  republic  which  were  not  excel- 
lent. After  this  assembly  was  over,  within  two  or  three 
hours,  these  most  welcome  messengers  and  letters  arrived ; 
so  that  the  same  day  not  only  delivered  me  from  a  most  un- 
just odium,  but  increased  my  credit  by  that  most  extraordi- 
nary act  with  which  the  Roman  people  distinguished  me. 

I  have  made  this  digression,  O  conscript  fathers,  not  so 
much  for  the  sake  of  speaking  of  myself  (for  I  should  be  in  a 
sorry  plight  if  I  were  not  sufficiently  acquitted  in  your  eyes 
without  the  necessity  of  making  a  formal  defense),  as  with 
the  view  of  warning  some  men  of  too  groveling  and  narrow 
minds,  to  adopt  the  line  of  conduct  which  I  myself  have  al- 
ways pursued,  and  to  think  the  virtue  of  excellent  citizens 
-worthy  of  imitation,  not  of  envy.  There  is  a  great  field  in 
the  republic,  as  Crassus  used  very  wisely  to  say ;  the  road  to 
glory  is  open  to  many. 

VII.  Would  that   those  great   men  were  still  alive,  who, 


501  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

after  my  consulship,  when  I  myself  was  willing  to  yield  to 
them,  were  themselves  desirous  to  see  me  in  the  post  of  leader. 
But  at  the  present  moment,  when  there  is  such  a  dearth  of 
wise  and  fearless  men  of  consular  rank,  how  great  do  you  not 
suppose  must  be  my  grief  and  indignation,  when  I  see  some 
men  absolutely  disaffected  to  the  republic,  others  wholly  in- 
different to  every  thing,  others  incapable  of  persevering  with 
any  firmness  in   the  cause  which   they  have  espoused ;   and 
regulating  their  opinions  not  always  by  the  advantage  of  the 
republic,    but  sometimes   by   hope,    and   sometimes   by   fear. 
But  if  any  one  is  anxious  and  inclined  to  struggle  for  the 
leadership — though  struggle  there  ought  to  be  none — he  acts 
very  foolishly,  if  he  proposes  to   combat  virtue  with  vices. 
For  as  speed  is  only  outstripped  by  speed,  so  among  brave 
men  virtue  is  only  surpassed  by  virtue.     Will  you,  if  I  am 
full  of  excellent  sentiments  with  respect  to  the  republic,  adopt 
the  worst  possible  sentiments  yourself  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
celling me!     Or  if  you  see  a  race  taking  place  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  honors,  will  you  summon  all  the  wicked  men  you 
can  find  to  your  banner?      I  should  be  sorry  for  you  to  do 
so ;  first  of  all,  for  the  sake  of  the  republic,  and  secondly,  for 
that  of  your  own  dignity.     But  if  the  leadership  of  the  state 
were  at  stake,  which  I  have  never   coveted,  what  could  be 
more  desirable  for  me  than  such  conduct  on  your  part  ?     For 
it  is  impossible  that  I  should  be  defeated  by  wicked  sentiments 
and  measures, — by  good  ones  perhaps  I  might  be,  and  I  will- 
ingly would  be. 

Some  people  are  vexed  that  the  Roman  people  should  see, 
and  take  notice  of,  and  form  their  opinion  on  these  matters* 
Was  it  possible  for  men  not  to  form  their  opinion  of  each  in- 
dividual as  he  deserved?  For  as  the  Roman  people  forma  a 
most  correct  judgment  of  the  entire  senate,  thinking  that  at 
no  period  in  the  history  of  the  republic  was  this  order  ever 
more  firm  or  more  courageous;  so  also  they  all  inquire  dili- 
gently concerning  every  individual  among  us;  and  especially 
in  the  case  of  those  among  us  who  deliver  our  sentiments  at 
length  in  this  place,  they  are  anxious  to  know  what  those 
sentiments  are  ;  and  in  that  way  they  judge  of  each  one  of 
us,  as  they  think  that  he  deserws.  They  recollect  that  on 
the  nineteenth  of  December  I  was  the  main  cause  of  recover- 
ing our  freedom  ;  that  from  the  first  of  January  to  this  hour  I 
have  never  ceased  watching  over  the  republic;   that  day  and 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  505 

nitrbt  my  house  and  my  ears  have  been  open  to  the  instruction 
and  admonition  of  every  one  ;  that  it  has  been  by  my  letters, 
and  my  messengers,  and  my  exhortations,  that  all  men  in 
every  part  of  the  empire  have  been  roused  to  the  protection 
of  our  country ;  that  it  is  owing  to  the  open  declaration  of 
my  opinion  ever  since  the  first  of  January,  that  no  embas- 
sadors have  been  ever  sent  to  Antonius ;  that  I  have  always 
called  him  a  public  enemy,  and  this  a  war ;  so  that  I,  who  on 
every  occasion  have  been  the  adviser  of  genuine  peace,  have 
been  a  determined  enemy  to  this  pretense  of  fatal  peace. 

Have  not  I  also  at  all  times  pronounced  Ventidius  an  en- 
smy,  when  others  wished  to  call  him  a  tribune  of  the  peo- 
ple 1  If  the  consuls  had  chosen  to  divide  the  senate  on  my 
opinion,  their  arms  would  long  since  have  been  wrested  from 
the  hands  of  all  those  robbers  by  the  positive  authority  of  the 
senate. 

VIII.  But  what  could  not  be  done  then,  O  conscript  fathers, 
at  present  not  only  can  be,  but  even  must  be  done.  I  mean, 
those  men  who  are  in  reality  enemies  must  be  branded  in 
plain  language,  must  be  declared  enemies  by  our  formal  reso- 
lution. Formerly,  when  I  used  the  words  War  or  Enemy, 
men  more  than  once  objected  to  record  my  proposition  among 
the  other  propositions.  But  that  can  not  be  done  on  the 
present  occasion.  For  in  consequence  of  the  letters  of  Caius 
Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius,  the  consuls,  and  of  Caius  Caesar, 
propraetor,  we  have  all  voted  that  honors  be  paid  to  the  im- 
mortal gods.  The  very  man  who  lately  proposed  and  carried 
a  vote  for  a  supplication,  without  intending  it  pronounced 
those  men  enemies ;  for  a  supplication  has  never  been  decreed 
for  success  in  civil  war.  Decreed,  do  I  say?  It  has  never 
even  been  asked  for  in  the  letters  of  the  conqueror.  Sylla  as 
consul  carried  on  a  civil  war ;  he  led  his  legions  into  the  city 
and  expelled  whomsoever  he  chose;  he  slew  those  whom  he 
had  in  his  power :  there  was  no  mention  made  of  any  suppli- 
cation. The  violent  war  with  Octavius  followed.  Cinna  the 
conqueror  had  no  supplication  voted  to  him.  Sylla  as  im- 
perator  revenged  the  victory  of  Cinna,  still  no  supplication 
was  decreed  by  the  senate.  I  ask  you  yourself,  O  Publius 
Servilius,  did  your  colleague  send  you  any  letters  concerning 
that  most  lamentable  battle  of  Pharsalia  ?  Did  he  wish  you 
to  make  any  motion  about  a  supplication'?  Certainly  not. 
But  he  did  afterward  when  he  took  Alexandria :  when  he  d»- 

Y 


506  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

feated  Pharnaces ;  but  for  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  he  did  not 
even  celebrate  a  triumph.  For  that  battle  had  destroyed  those 
citizens  whose,  I  will  not  say  lives,  but  even  whose  victory 
might  have  been  quite  compatible  with  the  safety  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  state.  And  the  same  thing  had  happened  in  the 
previous  civil  wars.  For  though  a  supplication  was  decreed  in 
my  honor  when  I  was  consul,  though  no  arms  had  been  had 
recourse  to  at  all,  still  that  was  voted  by  a  new  and  wholly 
unprecedented  kind  of  decree,  not  for  the  slaughter  of  enemies, 
but  for  the  preservation  of  the  citizens.  Wherefore,  a  suppli- 
cation on  account  of  the  atfairs  of  the  republic  having  been  suc- 
cessfully conducted  must,  O  conscript  fathers,  be  refused  by 
you  even  though  your  generals  demand  it ;  a  stigma  which 
has  never  been  affixed  on  any  one  except  Gabinius ;  or  else, 
by  the  mere  fact  of  decreeing  a  supplication,  it  is  quite  inevi- 
table that  you  must  pronounce  those  men,  for  whose  defeat  you 
do  decree  it,  enemies  of  the  state. 

IX.  What  then  Servilius  did  in  effect,  I  do  in  express 
terms,  when  I  style  those  men  imperators.  By  using  this 
name,  I  pronounce  those  who  have  been  already  defeated,  and 
those  who  still  remain,  enemies  in  calling  their  conquerors  im- 
perators. For  what  title  can  I  more  suitably  bestow  on  Pan- 
sa  %  Though  he  has,  indeed,  the  title  of  the  highest  honor  in 
the  republic.  What,  too,  shall  I  call  Hirtius?  He,  indeed, 
is  consul ;  but  this  latter  title  is  indicative  of  the  kindness  of 
the  Roman  people;  the  other  of  valor  and  victory.  What? 
Shall  I  hesitate  to  call  Caesar  imperator,  a  man  born  for  the 
republic  by  the  express  kindness  of  the  gods?  He  who  was 
the  first  man  who  turned  aside  the  savage  and  disgraceful 
cruelty  of  Antonius,  not  only  from  our  throats,  but  from  our 
limbs  and  bowels?  What  numerous  and  what  important  vir- 
tues, O  ye  immortal  gods,  were  displayed  on  that  single  day. 
For  Pansa  was  the  leader  of  all  in  engaging  in  battle  and  in 
combating  with  Antonius;  O  general  worthy  of  the  Martial 
legfm,  legion  worthy  of  its  general!  Indeed,  if  he  had  been 
able  to  restrain  its  irresistible  impetuosity,  the  whole  war 
would  have  been  terminated  by  that  one  battle.  But  as  the 
legion,  eager  for  liberty,  had  rushed  with  too  much  precipita- 
tion against  the  enemy's  iin^  of  battle,  and  as  Pansa  himself 
was  fighting  in  the  front  ranks,  lie  received  two  dangerous 
wounds,  and  was  borne  out  of  *he  battle,  to  preserve  his  life 
for  the  republic.     But  T  pronounce  -him  not  only  imperator, 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  507 

but  a  most  illustrious  imperator  ;  who,  as  he  had  pledged  him- 
self to  discharge  his  duty  to  the  republic  either  by  death  or  by 
victory,  has  fulfilled  one  half  of  his  promise  ;  may  the  immor- 
tal gods  prevent  the  fulfillment  of  the  other  half! 

X.  Why  need  I  speak  of  Hirtius?  who,  the  moment  he 
heard  of  what  was  going  on,  with  incredible  promptness  and 
courage  led  forth  two  legions  out  of  the  camp ;  that  noble 
fourth  legion,  which,  having  deserted  Antonius,  formerly  united 
itself  to  the  Martial  legion;  and  the  seventh,  which,  eonsi 
ing  wholly  of  veterans,  gave  proof  in  that  battle  that 
name  of  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  was  dear  to  I 
diers  who  preserved  the  recollection  of  the  kindness  of  (  a  sar. 
With  these  twenty  cohorts,  with  no  cavalry,  while  Hirtius 
himself  was  bearing  the  eagle  of  the  fourth  legion, — and  we 
never  heard  of  a  more  noble  office  being  assumed  by  any  gen- 
eral,— he  fought  with  the  three  legions  of  Antonius  and  with 
his  cavalry,  and  overthrew,  and  routed,  and  put  to  the  sword 
those  impious  men  who  were  the  real  enemies  to  this  temple 
of  the  all-good  and  all-powerful  Jupiter,  and  to  the  rest  of  the 
temples  of  the  immortal  gods,  and  the  houses  of  the  city,  and 
the  freedom  of  the  Eoman  people,  and  our  lives  and  actual  ex. 
istence  ;  so  that  that  chief  and  leader  of  robbers  fled  away  wiih 
a  very  few  followers,  concealed  by  the  darkness  of  night,  and 
frightened  out  of  all  his  senses. 

Oh  what  a  most  blessed  day  was  that,  which,  while  the  car- 
casses of  those  parricidal  traitors  were  strewed  about  every 
where,  beheld  Antonius  riving  with  a  few  followers,  before  he 
reached  his  place  of  concealment. 

But  will  any  one  hesitate  to  call  Caesar  imperatoi 
certainly  his  age  will  not  deter  any  one  from  agreeing  to  this 
proposition,  since  he  has  gone  beyond  his  age  in  virtue.  And 
to  me,  indeed,  the  services  of  Caius  Caesar  have  always  ap- 
peared the  more  thankworthy,  in  proportion  as  tl 
less  to  have  been  expected  from  a  man  of  his  age.  For  wher 
we  conferred  military  command  on  him,  we  were  in  en- 

couraging the  hope  with  which  his  name  inspired  us;  and 
now  that  he  has  fulfilled  those  hopes,  he  has  sanctioned  I 
authority  of  our  decree  by  his  exploits.  This  young  man  of 
great  mind,  as  Hirtius  most  truly  calls  him  in  his  letters, 
with  a  few  cohorts  defended  the  camp  of  many  legions,  and 
fought  a  successful  battle.  And  in  this  manner  the  republic 
has  on  one  day  been  preserved  in  many  places  by  the  valor, 


508  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  wisdom,  and  good  fortune  of  three  imperators  of  the  Ro- 
man people. 

XI.  I  therefore  propose  supplications  of  fifty  days  in  the 
joint  names  of  the  three.  The  reasons  I  will  embrace  in  the 
words  of  the  resolution,  using  the  most  honorable  language 
that  I  can  devise. 

But  it  becomes  our  good  faith  and  our  piety  to  show  plain- 
ly to  our  most  gallant  soldiers  how  mindful  of  their  services 
and  how  grateful  for  them  we  arc  ;  and  accordingly  I  give  my 
vote  that  our  promises,  and  those  pledges  too  which  we  prom- 
ised to  bestow  on  the  legions  when  the  war  was  finished,  be 
repeated  in  the  resolution  which  we  are  going  to  pass  this 
day.  For  it  is  quite  fair  that  the  honor  of  the  soldiers,  es- 
pecially of  such  soldiers  as  those,  should  be  united  with  that 
of  their  commanders.  And  I  wish,  O  conscript  fathers,  that 
it  was  lawful  for  us  to  dispense  rewards  to  all  the  citizens ,- 
although  we  will  give  those  which  we  have  promised  with 
the  most  careful  usury.  But  that  remains,  as  I  well  hope, 
to  the  conquerors,  to  whom  the  faith  of  the  senate  is  pledged; 
and,  as  they  have  adhered  to  it  at  a  most  critical  period  of 
the  republic,  we  are  bound  to  take  care  that  they  never  have 
cause  to  repent  of  their  conduct.  But  it  is  easy  for  us  to 
deal  fairly  by  those  men  whose  very  services,  though  mute, 
appear  to  demand  our  liberality.  Tins  is  a  much  more  praise- 
worthy and  more  important  duty,  to  pay  a  proper  tribute  of 
grateful  recollection  to  the  valor  of  those  men  who  have  shed 
their  blood  in  the  cause  of  their  countrv.  And  I  wish  more 
suggestions  could  occur  to  me  in  the  way  of  doinsr  honor  to 
those  men.  The  two  ideas  which  principally  do  occur  to  me, 
I  will  at  all  events  not  pass  over;  the  one  of  which  has  refer- 
ence to  the  everlasting  glory  of  those  bravest  of  men  ;  the  oth- 
er may  tend  to  mitigate  the  sorrow  and  mourning  of  their  re- 
lations. 

XII.  I  therefore  give  my  vote,  O  conscript  fathers,  that 
the  most  honorable  monument  possible  be  erected  to  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Martial  legion,  and  to  those  soldiers  also  who 
died  fighting  by  their  side.  Great  and  incredible  are  the  serv- 
ices done  by  this  legion  to  the  republic.  This  was  the  first 
legion  to  tear  itself  from  the  piratical  band  of  Antonius;  this 
was  the  legion  which  encamped  at  Alba;  this  was  the  legion 
that  went  over  to  Caesar;  and  it  was  in  imitation  of  the  con- 
duct of  this  legion  that  the  fourth  legion  lias  earned  almost 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  509 

equal  glory  for  its  virtue.     The  fourth  is  victorious  without 
having  lost  a  man  ;   some  of  the  Martial  legion  fell  in  the 
very  moment  of  victory.     Oh  happy  death,  which,  due  to  na 
ture,  has  been  paid  in  the  cause  of  one's  country  !     But  I  con- 
sider you  men  born  for  your  country ;  you  whose  very  name 
is  derived  from  Mars,  so  that  the  same  god  who  begot  this 
city  for  the  advantage  of  the  nations,  appears  to  have  begotten 
you  for  the  advantage  of  this  city.     Death  in  flight  is  infa-. 
mous ;  in  victory  glorious.     In  truth,  Mars  himself  seems  to 
select  all  the  bravest  men  from  the  battle  array.     Those  im- 
pious men  whom  you  slew,  shall  even  in  the  shad  -  I  clow 
pay  the  penalty  of  their  parricidal  treason.     But  you,  who 
have  poured  forth  your  latest  breath  in  victory,  have  earn 
an  abode  and  place  among  the  pious.      A  brief  life 
allotted  to  us  by  nature ;  but  the  memory  of  a  well-spent  life 
is  imperishable.     And  if  that  memory  were  no  longer  than 
this  life,  who  would  be  so  senseless  as  to  strive  to  attain  even 
the  highest  praise  and  glory  by  the  most  enormous  labors  and 
dangers  ? 

You  then  have  fared  most  admirably,  being  the  bravest  of 
soldiers  while  you  lived,  and  now  the  most  holy  of  warriors, 
because  it  will  be  impossible  for  your  virtue  to  be  buried, 
either  through  the  forgetfulness  of  the  men  of  the  present  age, 
or  the  silence  of  posterity,  since  the  senate  and  Ronu     people 
will  have  raised  to  you  an  imperishable  monument.  J   may 
almost  say  with  their  own  hands.     Many  armies  a 
times  have  been  great  and  illustrious  in  the  Punic,  and  Gallic, 
and  Italian  wars  ;  but  to  none  of  them  have  honors  been  paid 
of  the  description  which  are  now  conferred  on  you.     And  1 
wish  that  we  could  pay  you  even  greater  honors,  since  we 
received  from  you  the  greatest  possible  services.     You  it  was 
who  turned  aside  the  furious  Ant  cuius  from  this  city  ;   you  it 
was  who  repelled  him  when  endeavoring  to  return.     There 
shall  therefore  be  a  vast  monument  erected  with  The   most 
sumptuous  work,  and  an  inscription  engraved  upon  it,  as  the 
everlasting  witness  of  your  godlike  virtue.     And  never  shall 
the  most  grateful  language  of  all  who  either  see  or  hear  of  your 
monument  cease  to  be  heard.     And  in  this  manner  you,  in 
exchange  for  your  mortal  condition  of  life,  nave  attained  im- 
mortality. 

XIII.  But  since,  O  conscript  fathers,  the  gift  of  glory 
conferred  on  these  most  excellent  and  gallant  citizens  by  the 


510  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

honor  of  a  monument,  let  us  comfort  their  relations,  to  whom 
this  indeed  is  the  best  consolation.  The  greatest  comfort  for 
their  parents  is  the  reflection  that  they  have  produced  sons 
who  have  been  such  bulwarks  of  the  republic ;  for  their  chil- 
dren, that  they  will  have  such  examples  of  virtue  in  their  fam- 
ily ;  for  their  wives,  that  the  husbands  whom  they  have  lost 
are  men  whom  it  is  a  credit  to  praise,  and  to  have  a  right  to 
mourn  for ;  and  for  their  brothers,  that  they  may  trust  that, 
as  they  resemble  them  in  their  persons,  so  they  do  also  in  their 
virtues. 

Would  that  we  were  able  by  the  expression  of  our  senti- 
ments and  by  our  votes  to  wipe  away  the  tears  of  all  these 
persons ;  or  that  any  such  oration  as  this  could  be  publicly 
addressed  to  them,  to  cause  them  to  lay  aside  their  grief  and 
mourning,  and  to  rejoice  rather,  that,  while  many  various 
kinds  of  death  impend  over  men,  the  most  honorable  kind  of 
all  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  their  friends  ;  and  that  they  are 
not  unburied,  nor  deserted ;  though  even  that  fate,  when  in- 
curred for  one's  country,  is  not  accounted  miserable  ;  nor 
burned  with  equable  obsequies  in  scattered  graves,  but  en- 
tombed in  honorable  sepulchres,  and  honored  with  public  of- 
ferings ;  and  with  a  building  which  will  be  an  altar  of  their 
valor  to  insure  the  recollection  of  eternal  ages. 

Wherefore  it  will  be  the  greatest  possible  comfort  to  their 
relations,  that  by  the  same  monument  are  clearly  displayed  the 
valor  of  their  kinsmen,  and  also  their  piety,  and  the  good  faith 
of  the  senate,  and  the  memory  of  this  most  inhuman  war,  in 
which,  if  the  valor  of  the  soldiers  had  been  less  conspicuous, 
the  very  name  of  the  Koman  people  would  have  perished  by 
the  parricidal  treason  of  Marcus  Antonius.  And  I  think  also, 
O  conscript  fathers,  that  those  rewards  which  we  promised  to 
bestow  on  the  soldiers  when  we  had  recovered  the  republic, 
we  should  give  with  abundant  usury  to  those  who  are  alive 
and  victorious  when  the  time  comes  ;  and  that  in  the  case  of 
the  men  to  whom  those  rewards  were  promised,  but  who  have 
died  in  the  defense  of  their  country,  I  think  those  same  re- 
wards should  be  given  to  their  parents  or  children,  or  wives  or 
brothers. 

XIV.  But  that  I  may  reduce  my  sentiments  into  a  formal 
motion,  I  give  my  vote  that, 

"As  Caius  Pansa,  consul,  imperator,  set  the  example  of 
fighting  with  the  enemy  in  a  battle  in  which  the  Martial  le- 


THE  FOURTEENTH  PHILIPPIC.  511 

gion  defended  the  freedom  of  the  Roman  people  with  admira- 
ble and  incredible  valor,  and  the  legions  of  the  recruits  be- 
haved equally  well ;  and  as  Caius  Pansa,  consul,  imperator, 
while  engaged  in  the  middle  of  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  receiv- 
ed wounds ;  and  as  Aulus  Hirtius,  consul,  imperator,  the  mo- 
ment that  he  heard  of  the  battle,  and  knew  what  was  going 
on,  with  a  most  gallant  and  loyal  soul,  led  his  army  out  of  his 
camp  and  attacked  Marcus  Antonius  and  his  army,  and  put 
his  troops  to  the  sword,  with  so  little  injury  to  his  own  army 
that  he  did  not  lose  one  single  man ;  and  as  Caius  Caesar, 
propraetor,  imperator,  with  great  prudence  and  energy  defend- 
ed the  camp  successfully,  and  routed  and  put  to  the  sword  the 
forces  of  the  enemy  which  had  come  near  the  camp : 

"  On  these  accounts  the  senate  thinks  and  declares  that  the  "* 
Roman  people  has  been  released  from  the  most  disgraceful  and 
cruel  slavery  by  the  valor,  and  military  skill,  and  prudence, 
and  firmness,  and  perseverance,  and  greatness  of  mind  and 
good  fortune  of  these  their  generals.  And  decrees  that,  as 
they  have  preserved  the  republic,  the  city,  the  temples  of  the 
immortal  gods,  the  property  and  fortunes  and  families  of  all 
the  citizens,  by  their  own  exertions  in  battle,  and  at  the  risk 
of  their  own  lives ;  on  account  of  these  virtuous  and  gallant 
and  successful  achievements,  Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius, 
the  consuls,  imperators,  one  or  both  of  them,  or,  in  their  ab- 
sence, Marcus  Cornutus,  the  city  praetor,  shall  appoint  a  sup- 
plication at  all  the  altars  for  fifty  days.  And  as  the  valor  of  $¥ 
the  legions  has  shown  itself  worthy  of  their  most  illustrious 
generals,  the  senate  will  with  great  eagerness,  now  that  the 
republic  is  recovered,  bestow  on  our  legions  and  armies  all  the 
rewards  which  it  formerly  promised  them.  And  as  the  Mar- 
tial legion  was  the  first  to  engage  with  the  enemy,  and  fought 
in  such  a  manner  against  superior  numbers  as  to  slay  many 
and  take  some  prisoners;  and  as  they  shed  their  blood  for 
their  country  without  any  shrinking;  and  as  the  soldiers  of 
the  other  legions  encountered  death  with  similar  valor  in  de- 
fense of  the  safety  and  freedom  of  the  Roman  people ; — the 
senate  does  decree  that  Caius  Pansa  and  Aulus  Hirtius,  the 
consuls,  imperators,  one  or  both  of  them  if  it  seems  good  to 
them,  see  to  the  issuing  of  a  contract  for,  and  to  the 

erecting,  the  most  honorable  possible  monument  to  those  men 
who  shed  their  blood  for  the  lives  and  liberties  and  fortunes 
of  the  -Sioman  people,  and  for  the  city  and  temples  of  the  im' 


512  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

mortal  gods ;  that  for  that  purpose  they  shall  order  the  city 
quaestors  to  furnish  and  pay  money,  in  order  that  it  may  be 
a  witness  for  the  everlasting  recollection  of  posterity  of  the 
wickedness  of  our  most  cruel  enemies,  and  the  godlike  valor 
of  our  soldiers.  And  that  the  rewards  which  the  senate  pre- 
viously appointed  for  the  soldiers,  be  paid  to  the  parents  or 
children,  or  wives  or  brothers  of  those  men  who  in  this  war 
have  fallen  in  defense  of  their  country  ;  and  that  all  honors  be 
bestowed  on  them  which  should  have  been  bestowed  on  the 
soldiers  themselves,  if  those  men  had  lived  who  gained  the 
victory  by  their  death/' 


THE  FOURTH  BOOK  OF  THE  SECOND  PLEADING  IN  THE 
PROSECUTION  OF  VERRES. 


ABOUT    THE    STATUES. 


THE  ARGUMENT, 

The  subject  of  this  oration  is  the  manner  in  which  Yerres  had  plundered 
not  only  private  individuals,  but  even  some  temples,  of  valuable  stat- 
ues, and  other  works  of  art.  Among  the  instances  given  some  of  the 
most  prominent  are  the  plunder  of  Heius,  a  Messanian  ;  of  Philarchus, 
or  Centuripa  ;  of  several  other  private  citizens  ;  of  Antiochus,  the  king  ; 
and  of  the  temples  of  Diana,  Mercury,  and  Ceres.  A  French  transla- 
tor in  commenting  on  this  oration  says,  with  reference  to  the  slighting 
way  in  which  Cicero  speaks  of  the  works  of  art  thus  stolen  :  "  The 
Romans  struggled  for  some  time  against  the  seductive  power  of  the 
arts  of  Greece,  to  which  for  many  ages  they  were  strangers.  At  first 
they  really  did  despise  them  ;  afterward  they  affected  to  despise  them  ; 
but  at  last  they  were  forced  to  bow  the  head  beneath  the  brilliant  yoke 
of  luxury  ;  and  Greece,  industrious,  learned,  and  polite,  subdued  by  the 
admiration  which  it  extorted,  the  ignorant,  unlettered,  and  rude  bar- 
barians who  had  conquered  her  by  force.  Faithful  to  the  ancient  max- 
ims of  the  republic,  Cicero  in  this  oration  speaks  only  with  a  sort  of 
disdain  of  the  arts  and  works  of  the  most  famous  artists.  He  even  pre- 
tends sometimes  not  to  be  too  well  acquainted  with  the  names  of  the 
most  celebrated  statuaries  ;  he  often  repeats,  and  with  a  kind  of  affec- 
tation, that  he  knows  very  little  of  painting  or  sculpture  ;  and  rather 
_p_rides  himself,  as  one  may  say,  on  his  ignorance.  He  seems  to  regard 
a  taste  for  art  as  unworthy  of  the  Romans,  and  the  finest  chefs  d'uvrrr 
as  children's  toys,  fit  to  amuse  the  trifling  and  frivolous  minds  of  the 
Greeks,  whose  name  he  usually  expresses  by  a  contemptuous  dimin- 
utive (Graculi),  but  little  calculated  to  fix  the  attention,  or  attract  tb» 
esteem  or  wishes  of  a  Roman  mind. 


AGAINST  VERRES.  513 

******  * 

In  general  there  runs  through  these  orations  a  tone  more  calculated  to 
render  Verres  ridiculous,  than  to  make  one  feel  how  much  there  was 
in  all  his  attempts  which  was  odious  and  horrible.  The  orator  even 
permitted  himself  some  pleasantries,  for  which  his  taste  has  been,  per- 
haps too  severely,  called  in  question.  Cicero  bad  no  dislike  to  puns, 
and  has  played  a  "good  deal  on  the  name  of  Verres,  which  means  a  boar. 
He_jataS-Joo  eager  to  acquire  the  reputation  of  a  wit.  It  is  true  that 
the  person  of  Verres  was  sufficiently  inviting  as  a  subject  for  ridicule. 
He  was  one  of  those  gross  men  overloaded  with  fat,  in  whom  the  bulk 
of  body  appears  to  stifle  all  delicacy  of  moral  feeling.  As  he  had  tried 
to  carry  off  a  statue  of  Hercules  which  his  people  could  with  difficulty 
move  upon  its  pedestal,  Cicero  calls  this  the  thirteenth  of  the  labors  of 
Hercules.  And  playing  continually  on  the  name  oi  Verres,  he  com- 
pares him  to  the  boar  of  Erymanthus.  At  another  time  he  calls  him 
the  drag-net  of  Sicily,  because  the  name  Verres  has  some  resemblance 
to  the  word  everriuclum,  which  signifies  a  drag-net.'' 
Hortensius  endeavored  to  defend  Verres  from  the  charge  of  having  stolen 
these  statues,  &c,  of  which  he  admits  that  he  had  become  the  possess- 
or, by  contending  that  he  had  bought  them.  But  it  was  contrary  to  the 
laws  for  a  magistrate  to  purchase  any  such  articles  in  his  province  ; 
and  Cicero  shows  also  that  the  prices  alleged  to  have  been  given  are 
so  wholly  disproportionate  to  their  value,  that  it  is  ridiculous  to  assert 
that  the  things  had  been  purchased  and  not  taken  by  force. 

I.  I  come  now  to  what  Verres  himself  calls  his  passion  ; 
what  his  friends  call  his  disease,  his  madness ;  what  the  Si- 
cilians call  his  rapine ;  what  I  am  to  call  it,  1  know  not.      I 
will  state  the  whole  affair  to  you,  and  do  you  consider  it  ac- 
cording to  its  own  importance  and  not  by  the  importance  of 
its  name.     First  of  all,  O  judges,  suffer  me  to  make  you  ac- 
quainted with  the   description   of  this  conduct  of  his;    and 
then,  perhaps,  you  will  not  be  very  much  puzzled  to  know  by 
what  name  to  call  it.     I  say  that  in  all  Sicily,  in  all  that 
wealthy  and  ancient  province,  that  in  that  number  of  towns 
and  families  of  such  exceeding  riches,  there  was  no  silver  ves- 
sel, no  Corinthian  or  Delian  plate,  no  jewel  or  pearl,  nothing 
made  of  gold  or  ivory,  no  statue  of  marble  or  brass  or  ivory, 
no  picture  whether  painted  or  embroidered,  that  he  did  not 
seek  out,  that  he  did  not  inspect,  that,  if  he  liked  it,  he  did  not 
take  away.     I  seem   to  be  making  a  very  extensive  charge ; 
listen  now  to  the  manner  in  which  I  make  it.      For  I  am  not 
embracing  every  thing  in  one  charge  for  the  sake  of  making 
an  impression,  or  of  exaggerating  his  guilt.     When  I  pay  that 
he  left  nothing  whatever  of  the  sort  in  the  whole  province, 
know  that  I  am  speaking  according  to  the  strict  waning  of 
the  words,  and  not  in  the  spirit  of  an  accuser,     i    *vill  speak 

Y2 


614  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

even  more  plainly ;  I  will  say  that  he  has  left  nothing  in  any 
one's  house,  nothing  even  in  the  towns,  nothing  in  public 
places,  not  even  in  the  temples,  nothing  in  the  possession  of 
any  Sicilian,  nothing  in  the  possession  of  any  Roman  citizen ; 
that  he  has  left  nothing,  in  short,  which  either  came  before 
his  eyes  or  was  suggested  to  his  mind,  whether  private  prop- 
erty or  public,  or  profane  or  sacred,  in  all  Sicily. 

Where  then  shall  I  begin  rather  than  with  that  city  which 
was  above  all  others  in  your  affection,  and  which  was  your 
chosen  place  of  enjoyment?  or  with  what  class  of  men  rather 
than  with  your  flatterers  ?  For  by  that  means  it  will  be  the 
more  easily  seen  how  you  behaved  among  those  men  who  hate 
you,  who  accuse  you,  who  will  not  let  you  rest,  when  you  are 
proved  to  have  plundered  among  the  Mamertines,  who  are 
your  friends,  in  the  most  infamous  manner. 

II.  Caius  Heius  is  a  Mamertine — all  men  will  easily  grant 
me  this  who  have  ever  been  to  Messana  ;  the  most  accomplished 
man  in  every  point  of  view  in  all  that  city.  His  house  is  the 
very  best  in  all  Messana, — most  thoroughly  known,  most  con- 
stantly open,  most  especially  hospitable  to  all  our  fellow-citi- 
zens. That  house  before  the  arrival  of  Verres  was  so  splendidly 
adorned,  as  to  be  an  ornament  even  to  the  city.  For  Messana 
itself,  which  is  admirable  on  account  of  its  situation,  its  forti- 
fications, and  its  harbor,  is  very  empty  and  bare  of  those  things 
in  which  Verres  delights.  There  was  in  the  house  of  Heius  a 
private  chapel  of  great  sacredness,  handed  down  to  him  from 
his  ancestors,  very  ancient ;  in  which  he  had  four  very  beautiful 
statues,  made  with  the  greatest  skill,  and  of  very  high  charac- 
ter; calculated  not  only  to  delight  Verres,  that  clever  and 
accomplished  man,  but  even  any  one  of  us  whom  he  calls  the 
mob : — one,  a  statue  of  Cupid,  in  marble,  a  work  of  Praxiteles ; 
for  in  truth,  while  I  have  been  inquiring  into  that  man's  con- 
duct, I  have  learned  the  names  of  the  workmen  ;  it  was  the 
same  workman,  as  I  imagine,  who  made  that  celebrated  Cupid 
of  the  same  figure  as  this  which  is  at  Thespiae,  on  account  of 
which  people  go  to  see  Thespian,  for  there  is  no  other  reason 
for  going  to  see  it  ;  and  therefore  that  great  man  Lucius 
Mummius,  when  he  carried  away  from  that  town  the  statues 
of  the  Muses  which  are  now  before  the  temple  of  Good  For- 
,  tune,  and  the  other  statues  which  were  nut  consecrated,  did 
not  touch  this  marble  Cupid,  because  it  had  been  consecrated. 
III.  But  to  return  to  that  private  chapel  ;   there  was  this 


AGAINST  VERRES  515 

statue,  which  I  am  speaking  of,  of  Cupid,  made  of  marble.  On 
the  other  side  there  was  a  Hercules,  beautifully  made  of  brass  ; 
that  was  said  to  be  the  work  of  Myron,  as  I  believe,  and  it 
undoubtedly  was  so.  Also  before  those  gods  there  were  lit- 
tle altars,  which  might  indicate  to  any  one  the  holiness  of  the 
chapel.  There  were  besides  two  brazen  statues,  of  no  very 
great  size,  but  of  marvelous  beauty,  in  the  dress  and  robes  of 
virgins,  which  with  uplifted  hands  were  supporting  some  sa- 
cred vessels  which  were  placed  on  their  heads,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  Athenian  virgins.  They  were  called  the  Canephorce, 
but  their  maker  was  ....  (who  ?  who  was  he  ?  thank  you, 
you  are  quite  right),  they  called  him  Polycletus.  Whenever 
any  one  of  our  citizens  went  to  Messana,  he  used  to  go  and 
see  these  statues.  They  were  open  every  day  for  people  to  go 
to  see  them.  The  house  was  not  more  an  ornament  to  its 
master,  than  it  was  to  the  city. 

Caius  Claudius,  whose  aBdileship  we  know  to  have  been  a 
most  splendid  affair,  used  this  statue  of  Cupid,  as  long  as  he 
kept  the  forum  decorated  in  honor  of  the  immortal  gods  and 
the  Roman  people.  And  as  he  was  connected  by  ties  of  hos- 
pitality with  the  Heii,  and  was  the  patron  of  the  Mamertine 
people, — as  he  availed  himself  of  their  kindness  to  lend  him 
this,  so  he  was  careful  to  restore  it.  There  have  lately  been 
noble  men  of  the  same  kind,  O  judges  ; — why  do  I  say  lately? 
Ay,  we  have  seen  some  veiy  lately,  a  very  little  while  ago 
indeed,  who  have  adorned  the  forum  and  the  public  buildings, 
not  with  the  spoils  of  the  provinces,  but  with  ornaments  be- 
longing to  their  friends, — with  splendid  things  lent  by  their  own 
connections,  not  with  the  produce  of  the  thefts  of  guilty  men, 
— and  who  afterward  have  restored  the  statues  and  decorations, 
each  to  its  proper  owner  ;  men  who  have  not  taken  things 
away  out  of  the  cities  of  our  allies  for  the  sake  of  a  four-day 
festival,  under  pretense  of  the  shows  to  be  exhibited  in  their 
asdileship,  and  after  that  carried  them  off  to  their  own  homes, 
and  their  own  villas.  All  these  statues  which  I  have  mention- 
ed, O  judges,  Verres  took  away  from  Heius,  out  of  his  private 
chapel.  He  left,  I  say,  not  one  of  those  things,  nor  any  thing 
else,  except  one  old  wooden  figure, — Good  Fortune,  as  I  be- 
lieve ;    that,  forsooth,  he  did  not  choose  to  have  in  his  house! 

IV.  Oh !  for  the  good  faith  of  gods  and  men !  What  is  the 
meaning  of  all  this  /  What  a  cause  is  this!  What  impudence 
is  this  !    The  statues  which  I  am  speaking  of,  before  they  were 


516  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

taken  away  by  you,  no  commander  ever  came  to  Mcssana  with- 
out seeing.     So  many  praetors,  so  many  consuls  as  there  have 
been  in  Sicily,  in  time  of  peace,  and  in  time  of  war  ;  so  many 
men  of  every  sort  as  there  have  been — I  do  not  speak  of  up- 
right, innocent,  conscientious  men,  but  so  many  covetous,  so 
many  audacious,  so  many  infamous  men  as  there  have  been, 
not  one  of  them  all  was  violent  enough,  or  seemed  to  himself 
powerful  enough  or  noble  enough,  to  venture  to  ask  for,  or  to 
take  away,  or  even  to  touch  any  thing  in  that  chapel.     Shall 
Verres  take  away  every  thing  which  is  most  beautiful  every 
where?     Shall  it  not  be  allowed  to  any  one  besides  to  have 
any  thing'?     Shall  that  one  house  of  his  contain  so  many 
wealthy  houses'?  Was  it  for  this  reason  that  none  of  his  pred- 
ecessors ever  touched  these  things,  that  he  might  be  able  to 
carry  them  off?     Was  this  the  reason  why  Caius  Claudius 
Pulcher  restored  them,  that  Caius  Verres  might  be  able  to 
steal  them  ?     But  that  Cupid  had  no  wish  for  the  house  of  a 
pimp  and  the  establishment  of  a  harlot ;  he  was  quite  content 
to  stay  in  that  chapel  where  he  was  hereditary ;  he  knew  that 
he  had  been  left  to  Heius  by  his  ancestors,  with  the  rest  of  the 
sacred  things  which  he  inherited ;  he  did  not  require  the  heir 
of  a  prostitute.     But  why  am  1  borne  on  so  impetuously?     I 
shall  in  a  moment  be  refuted  by  one  word.     "I  bought  it," 
says  he.     O  ye  immortal  gods,  what  a  splendid  defense  !  we 
sent  a  broker  into  the  province  with  military  command  and 
with  the  forces,  to  buy  up  all  the  statues,  all  the  paintings, 
all  the  silver  plate  and  gold  plate,  and  ivory,  and  jewels,  and 
to  leave  nothing  to  any  body.     For  this  defense  seems  to  me 
to  be  got  ready  for  every  thing ;    that  he  bought  them.     In 
the  first  place,  if  I  should  grant  to  you  that  which  you  wish, 
namely,  that  you  bought  them,  since  against  all  this  class  of 
accusations  you  are  going  to  use  this  defense  alone,  I  ask  what 
sort  of  tribunals  you  thought  that  there  would  be  at  Rome, 
if  you  thought  that  any  one  would  grant  you  this,  that  you  in 
your  praetorship  and  in  your  command1  bought  up  so  many 

1  The  Latin  word  is  imperium.,  "  Imperium  (as  opposed  to  Potestas)  is 
the  power  which  was  conferred  by  the  state  upon  an  individual  who  was 
appointed  to  command  an  army.  .  .  .  The  imperium  was  as  necessary  lor 
the  governor  of  a  province,  as" for  a  general  who  merely  commanded  the 
armies  of  the  republic  .  as  without  it  he  could  not  exercise  military  au- 
thority. ...  It  was  conferred  by  a  special  law,  and  was  limited,  it' not  hy 
the  terms  in  which  it  was  conferred,  at  least  by  usage.  It  could  not  be 
held  or  exercised  within  the  city." — Smith.  Diet.  Ant.  p.  .508.  v    ImpcriuJn 


AGAINST  VERRES  517 

and  such  valuable  things, — every  thing,  in  short,  which  was 
of  any  value  in  the  whole  province. 

V.  Remark  the  care  of  our  ancestors,  who  as  yet  suspected 
no  sucli  conduct  as  this,  but  yet  provided  against  the  things 
which  might  happen  in  affairs  of  small  importance.  They 
thought  that  no  one  who  had  gone  as  governor1  or  as  lieuten- 
ant  into  a  province  would  be  so  insane  as  to  buy  silver,  for 
that  was  given  him  out  of  the  public  funds  ;  or  raiment,  for 
that  was  afforded  him  by  the  laws;  they  thought  he  might 
buy  a  slave,  a  thing  which  we  all  use,  and  which  is  not  pro- 
vided by  the  laws.  They  made  a  law,  therefore,  "that  no  one 
should  buy  a  slave  except  in  the  room  of  a  slave  who  was 
dead."  If  any  slave  had  died  at  Rome  ?  No,  if  any  one  had 
died  in  the  place  where  his  master  was.  For  they  did  not 
mean  you  to  furnish  your  house  in  the  province,  but  to  be  of 
use  to  the  province  in  its  necessities.  What  was  the  reason 
why  they  so  carefully  kept  us  from  making  purchases  in  the 
provinces?  This  was  it,  O  judges,  because  they  thought  it  a 
robbery,  not  a  purchase,  when  the  seller  was  not  allowed  to 
sell  on  his  own  terms.  And  they  were  aware  that,  in  the 
provinces,  if  he  who  was  there  with  the  command  and  power1 
of  a  governor  wished  to  purchase  what  was  in  any  one's  pos- 
session, and  was  allowed  to  do  so,  it  would  come  to  pass  that 
he  would  set  whatever  he  chose,  whether  it  was  to  be  sold  or 
not,  at  whatever  price  he  pleased.  Some  one  will  say,  "  Do 
not  deal  with  Yerres  in  that  manner ;  do  not  try  and  exam- 
ine his  actions  by  the  standard  of  old-fashioned  conscientious- 
ness ;  allow  him  to  have  bought  them  without  being  punish- 
ed for  it,  provided  he  bought  them  in  a  fair  way.  not  through 
any  arbitrary  exercise  of  power,  nor  from  any  one  against  his 
will,  or  by  violence."  I  will  so  deal  with  him.  If  Heius  had 
any  thing  for  sale,  if  he  sold  it  for  the  price  at  which  he  val- 
ued it,  I  give  up  inquiring  why  you  bought  it. 

1  The  Latin  word  in  each  case  is  potcstas.  ';  According  to  Paulus, 
potestas,  as  applied  to  a  magistrate,  is  equivalent  to  impeiium.  .  .  .  But 
potestas  is  applied  to  magistrates  who  had  not  the  imperium,  as,  for  in- 
stance, to  quaestors  and  tribunes  of  the  people  :  and  potestas  and  impe- 
rium are  often  opposed  in  Cicero.  Thus  it  seems  that  potestas,  like  m 
other  Roman  terms,  had  both  a  wider  cation  and  a  narrower  on*   ; 

in  its  wider  signification  it  might  mean  ad  the  power  that  was  delegated 
to  any  person  by  the  state,  whatever  might  be  the  extent  of  that  power  ; 
in  its  narrower  signification,  it  was  on  the  one  hand  equivalent  to  impe- 
rium, and  on  the  other  it  expressed  the  power  of  those  functionaries  who 
had  not  the  imperium." — Smith,  Diet.  Ant.  p.  721,  v.  Potestas. 


518  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

VI.  What  then  are  we  to  do?  Are  we  to  use  arguments  in 
a  case  of  this  sort?  We  must  ask,  I  suppose,  whether  Ileius 
was  in  debt,  whether  he  had  an  auction, — if  he  had,  whether 
he  was  in  such  difficulties  about  money  matters,  whether  he 
was  oppressed  by  such  want,  by  such  necessity,  as  to  strip  his 
private  chapel,  to  sell  his  paternal  gods.  But  I  see  that  the 
man  had  no  auction ;  that  he  never  sold  any  thing  except  the 
produce  of  his  land;  that  he  not  only  had  no  debts,  but  that 
he  had  always  abundance  of  ready  money.  Even  if  all  these 
things  were  contrary  to  what  I  say  they  were,  still  I  say  that 
he  would  not  have  sold  tilings  which  had  been  so  many  years 
in  the  household  and  chapel  of  his  ancestors.  "What  will 
you  say  if  he  was  persuaded  by  the  greatness  of  the  sum  given 
him  for  them?"  It  is  not  probable  that  a  man,  rich  as  he 
was,  honorable  as  he  was,  should  have  preferred  money  to  his 
own  religious  feelings  and  to  the  memorials  of  his  ancestors. 
"  That  may  be,  yet  men  are  sometimes  led  away  from  their 
habits  and  principles  by  large  sums  of  money."  Let  us  see, 
then,  how  great  a  sum  this  was  which  could  turn  Ileius,  a 
man  of  exceeding  riches,  by  no  means  covetous,  away  from 
decency,  from  affection,  and  from  religion.  You  ordered  him, 
I  suppose,  to  enter  in  his  account-books,  "All  these  statues 
of  Praxiteles,  of  Myron,  of  Polycletus,  were  sold  to  Verres  for 
six  thousand  five  hundred  sesterces."  Read  the  extracts  from 
his  accounts — 

[ The  accounts  of  Ileius  are  read.~\ 

I  am  delighted  that  the  illustrious  names  of  these  workmen, 
^hom  those  men  extol  to  the  skies,  have  fallen  so  low  in  the 
estimation  of  Verres — the  Cupid  of  Praxiteles  for  sixteen  hun- 
dred sesterces.  From  that  forsooth  has  come  the  proverb,  "I 
had  rather  buy  it  than  ask  for  it." 

VII.  Some  one  will  say,  "What !  do  you  value  those  things 
at  a  very  high  price?"  But  I  am  not  valuing  them  according 
to  any  calculation  of  my  own,  or  any  need  which  I  have  for 
them  ;  but  I  think  that  the  matter  ought  to  be  looked  at  by 
;•  u  in  this  light, — what  is  the  value  of  these  things  in  the 
i  inion  of  those  men  who  are  judges  of  these  things;  at  what 
price  they  are  accustomed  to  be  sold;  at  what  price  these 
very  things  could  be  sold,  if  they  were  sold  openly  and  free- 
ly;  lastly,  at  what  price  Verres  himself  values  them.  For  he 
would  never  have  been  so  foolish,  if  he  had  thought  that  Cu- 


AGAINST  VERRES.  510 

pid  worth  only  four  hundred  denarii,  as  to  allow  himself  w 
be  made  a  subject  for  the  common  conversation  and  general 
reproach  of  men.  "Who  then  of  you  all  is  ignorant  at  how 
great  a  price  these  things  are  valued  ?  Have  we  not  seen  at 
an  auction  a  brazen  statue  of  no  great  size  sold  for  a  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  sesterces  I  What  if  I  were  to  choose  to 
name  men  who  have  bought  similar  things  for  no  less  a  price, 
or  even  for  a  higher  one?  Can  I  not  do  so?  In  truth,  the 
only  limit  to  the  valuation  of  such  things  is  the  desire  which 
any  one  has  for  them,  for  it  is  difficult  to  set  bounds  to  the 
price  unless  you  first  set  bounds  to  the  wish.  I  see  then  that 
Heius  was  neither  led  by  his  inclination,  nor  by  any  tempo- 
rary difficulties,  nor  by  the  greatness  of  the  sum  given,  to  sell 
these  statues ;  and  that  you,  under  the  pretense  of  purchase 
which  you  put  forward,  in  reality  seized  and  took  away  these 
things  by  force,  through  fear,  by  your  power  and  authority, 
from  that  man,  whom,  along  with  the  rest  of  our  allies  in 
that  country,  the  Roman  people  had  intrusted  not  only  to 
your  power,  but  also  to  your  upright  exercise  of  it.  What 
can  there  be,  judges,  so  desirable  for  me  in  making  this  charge, 
as  that  Heius  should  say  this  same  thing?  Nothing  certain- 
ly ;  but  let  us  not  wish  for  what  is  difficult  to  be  obtained- 
Heius  is  a  Mamertine.  The  state  of  the  Mamertines  alone, 
by  a  common  resolution,  praises  that  man  in  the  name  of  the 
city.  To  all  the  rest  of  the  Sicilians  he  is  an  object  of  hatred; 
by  the  Mamertines  alone  is  he  liked.  But  of  that  deputation 
which  has  been  sent  to  utter  his  praises,  Heius  is  the  chief 
man ;  in  truth,  he  is  the  chief  man  of  his  city,  and  too  much 
occupied  in  discharging  the  public  duties  imposed  upon  him 
:o  speak  of  his  private  injuries.  Though  I  was  aware  of  and 
had  given  weight  to  these  considerations,  still,  O  judges,  I 
trusted  myself  to  Heius.  I  produced  him  at  the  first  plead- 
ing ;  and  indeed  I  did  it  without  any  danger,  for  what  answer 
could  Heius  give  even  if  he  turned  out  a  dishonest  man,  and 
unlike  himself?  Could  he  say  that  these  statues  were  at  his 
house,  and  not  with  Verres  ?  How  could  he  say  any  thing  of 
that  sort  ?  If  he  were  the  basest  of  men,  and  were  inclined  to 
lie  most  shamelessly,  he  would  say  this;  that  he  had  had  them 
for  sale,  and  that  he  had  sold  them  at  the  price  he  wanted  for 
them.  The  man  the  most  noble  in  all  his  citv,  who  was  es- 
pecially  anxious  that  you  should  have  a  high  opinion  of  his 
conscientiousness  and  of  his  worth,  says  first,  that  he  spoke  in 


520  CICEFO'S  ORATIONS. 

Verres's  praise  by  the  public  authority  of  his  city,  because 
that  commission  had  been  given  to  him ;  secondly,  that  he 
had  not  had  these  things  for  sale,  and  that,  if  he  had  been  al- 
lowed to  do  what  he  wished,  he  could  never  have  been  in- 
duced by  any  terms  to  sell  those  things  which  were  in  his 
private  chapel,  having  been  left  to  him  and  handed  down  to 
him  from  his  ancestors. 

VIII.  Why  are  you  sitting  there,  O  Yerres?  What  are 
you  waiting  for?  Why  do  you  say  you  are  hemmed  in  and 
overwhelmed  by  the  cities  of  Centuripa,  of  Catina,  of  Halesa, 
of  Tyndaris,  of  Enna,  of  Agyrium,  and  by  all  the  other  cities 
of  Sicily?  Your  second  country,  as  you  used  to  call  it,  Mes- 
sana  herself  attacks  you  ;  your  own  Messana,  I  say;  the  assist- 
ant in  your  crimes,  the  witness  of  your  lusts,  the  receiver  of 
your  booty  and  your  thefts.  For  the  most  honorable  man  of 
that  city  is  present,  a  deputy  sent  from  his  home  on  account 
of  this  very  trial,  the  chief  actor  in  the  panegyric  on  you ; 
who  praises  you  by  the  public  order  of  his  city,  for  so  he  has 
been  charged  and  commanded  to  do.  Although  you  recollect, 
O  judges,  what  he  answered  when  he  was  asked  about  the  ship  ; 
that  it  had  been  built  by  public  labor,  at  the  public  expense, 
and  that  a  Mamertine  senator  had  been  appointed  by  the  pub- 
lic authority  to  superintend  its  building.  Heius  in  his  private 
capacity  flees  to  you  for  aid,  O  judges;  he  avails  himself  of 
this  law,  the  common  fortress  of  our  allies,  by  which  this  tri- 
bunal is  established.  Although  there  is  a  law  for  recovering 
money  which  has  been  unjustly  extorted,  he  says  that  he  docs 
not  seek  to  recover  any  money ;  which,  though  it  has  been  taken 
from  him,  he  does  not  so  much  care  about ;  but  he  says  he 
does  demand  back  from  you  the  sacred  images  belonging  to 
his  ancestors,  he  does  demand  back  from  you  his  hereditary 
household  gods.  Have  you  any  shame,  O  Yerres?  have  you 
any  religion?  have  you  any  fear  ?  You  have  lived  in  Heius's 
house  at  Messana ;  you  saw  him  almost  daily  performing  sa- 
cred rites  in  his  private  chapel  before  those  gods.  He  is  not 
influenced  by  money;  he  does  not  even  ask  to  have  thoso 
things  restored  which  were  merely  ornaments.  Keep  the 
Canephorne;  restore  the  images  of  the  gods.  And  because  he 
said  this,  because  after  a  given  time  he,  an  ally  and  friend  of 
the  Roman  people,  addressed  his  complaints  to  you  in  a  mod- 
erate tone,  because  he  was  very  attentive  to  religious  obliga- 
tion  not  only  while  demanding  back  his  paternal  gods,  bnl 


AGAINST  VERRES.  521 

also  in  giving  his  evidence  on  oath ;  know  that  one  of  the 
deputies  has  been  sent  back  to  Messana,  that  very  man  who 
superintended  the  building  of  that  ship  at  the  public  expense, 
to  demand  from  the  senate  that  Heius  should  be  condemned 
to  an  ignominious  punishment. 

IX.  O  most  insane  of  men,  what  did  you  think  ?  that  you 
should  obtain  what  you  requested"?  Did  you  not  know  how 
greatly  he  was  esteemed  by  his  fellow-citizens  ;  how  great  his 
influence  was  considered?  But  suppose  you  had  obtained 
your  request ;  suppose  that  the  Mamertines  had  passed  any 
severe  vote  against  Heius,  what  do  you  think  would  have  been 
the  authority  of  their  panegyric,  if  they  had  decreed  punish- 
ment to  the  man  who  it  was  notorious  had  given  true  evi- 
dence ?  Although,  what  sort  of  praise  is  that,  when  he  who 
utters  it,  being  questioned,  is  compelled  to  give  answers  inju- 
rious to  him  whom  he  is  praising  ?  "What !  are  not  those  who 
are  praising  you,  my  witnesses'?  Heius  is  an  encomiast  of 
yours;  he  has  done  you  the  most  serious  injury.  I  will 
bring  forward  the  rest ;  they  will  gladly  be  silent  about  all 
that  they  are  allowed  to  suppress ;  they  will  say  what  they 
can  not  help  saying,  unwillingly.  Can  they  deny  that  a  trans- 
port of  the  largest  size  was  built  for  that  man  at  Messana  ? 
Let  them  deny  it  if  they  can.  Can  they  deny  that  a  Mamer- 
tine  senator  was  appointed  by  the  public  authority  to  super- 
intend the  building  of  that  ship  !  I  wish  they  would  deny  it. 
There  are  other  points  also  which  I  prefer  reserving  unmen- 
tioned  at  present,  in  order  to  give  as  little  time  as  possible  to 
them  for  planning  and  arranging  their  perjury.  Let  this 
praise,  then,  be  placed  to  your  account ;  let  these  men  come 
to  your  relief  with  their  authority,  who  neither  ought  to  help 
you  if  they  were  able,  nor  could  do  so  if  they  wished;  on 
whom  in  their  private  capacity  you  have  inflicted  many  inju- 
ries, and  put  many  affronts,  while  in  their  city  you  have  dis- 
honored many  families  forever  by  your  adulteries  and  crimes. 
"But  you  have  been  of  public  service  to  their  city."  Not 
without  great  injury  to  the  republic  and  to  the  province  of 
Sicily.  They  were  bound  to  supply  and  they  used  to  supply 
sixty  thousand  modii  of  wheat  to  the  Roman  people  for  pay- 
ment; that  was  remitted  by  you  of  your  own  sole  authority. 
The  republic  was  injured  because  by  your  means  its  ri<rht  of 
dominion  over  one  city  was  disparaged ;  the  Sicilians  were 
injured,  because  this  quantity  was  not  deducted  from  the  to- 


522  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tal  amount  of  the  corn  to  be  provided  by  the  island,  but  was 
only  transferred  to  the  cities  of  Centuripa  and  Halesa,  whose 
inhabitants  were  exempt  from  that  tax  ;  and  on  them  a  great- 
er burden  was  imposed  than  they  were  able  to  bear.  It  was 
your  duty  to  require  them  to  furnish  a  ships,  in  compliance 
with  the  treaty.  You  remitted  it  for  three  years.  During 
all  those  years  you  never  demanded  one  soldier.  You  acted 
as  pirates  are  accustomed  to  act,  who,  though  they  are  the 
common  enemies  of  all  men,  still  select  some  friends,  whom 
they  not  only  spare,  but  even  enrich  with  their  booty ;  and 
especially  such  as  have  a  town  in  a  convenient  situation, 
where  they  often,  and  sometimes  even  necessarily,  put  in  with 
their  vessels. 

X.  The  town  of  Phaselis,  which  Publius  Servilius  took,  had 
not  been  in  former  times  a  city  of  Cilicians  and  pirates.  The 
Lycians,  a  Greek  tribe,  inhabited  it;  but  because  it  was  in 
such  a  situation  as  it  was,  and  because  it  projected  into  the 
sea,  so  that  pirates  from  Cilicia  often  necessarily  touched  at  it 
when  departing  on  an  expedition,  and  were  also  often  borne 
thither  on  their  retreats,  the  pirates  connected  that  city  with 
themselves ;  at  first  by  commercial  intercourse,  and  afterward 
by  a  regular  alliance.  The  city  of  the  Mamertines  was  not 
formerly  of  bad  character;  it  was  even  a  city  hostile  to  dis- 
honest men,  and  detained  the  luggage  of  Caius  Cato,  the  one 
who  was  consul.  But  then  what  sort  of  a  man  was  he  ?  a 
most  eminent  and  most  influential  man  ;  who,  however,  though 
he  had  been  consul,  was  convicted.  So  Caius  Cato,  the  grand- 
son of  two  most  illustrious  men,  Lucius  Paullus  and  Marcus 
Cato,  and  the  son  of  the  sister  of  Publius  Africanus,  who, 
even  when  convicted,  at  a  time  when  severe  judgments  were 
in  the  habit  of  being  passed,  found  the  damages  to  which  he 
was  liable  only  estimated  at  eighteen  thousand  sesterces  ;  with 
this  man,  I  say,  the  Mamertines  were  angry,  who  have  often 
expended  a  greater  sum  than  the  damages  in  the  action  against 
Cato  were  laid  at,  in  one  banquet  for  Timarcl  tides.  But  this 
city  was  the  Phaselis  for  that  robber  and  pirate  of  Sicily. 
Hither  every  thing  was  brought  from  all  quarters  ;  with  them 
it  was  left ;  whatever  required  to  be  concealed,  they  kept 
separate  and  stored  away.  By  their  agency  he  contrived 
every  tiling  which  he  wished  put  on  board  ship  privily,  and 
exported  secretly  ;  and  in  their  harbor  he  contrived  to  have  a 
vessel  of  the  largest  size  built,  for  him  to  send  to  Italy  loaded 


AGAINST  VERRES.  523 

with  plunder.  In  return  for  these  services,  he  gave  them  im- 
munity from  all  expense,  all  labor,  all  military  service,  in 
short,  from  every  thing.  For  three  years  they  were  the  only 
people,  not  only  in  Sicily,  but,  according  to  my  opinion,  in 
the  whole  world  at  such  a  time,  who  enjoyed  excuse,  relief, 
freedom,  and  immunity  from  every  sort  of  expense,  and  trouble, 
and  office.  Hence  arose  that  Verrean  festival ;  hence  it  was 
that  he  ventured  to  order  Sextus  Cominius  to  be  dragged  be- 
fore him  at  a  banquet,  at  whom  he  attempted  to  throw  a 
goblet,  whom  he  ordered  to  be  seized  by  the  throat,  and  to  be 
hurried  from  the  banquet  and  thrown  into  a  dark  prison; 
hence  came  that  cross,  on  which,  in  the  sight  of  many  men, 
he  suspended  a  Roman  citizen;  that  cross  which  he  never 
ventured  to  erect  any  where  except  among  that  people,  whom 
he  had  made  sharers  in  all  his  crimes  and  robberies. 

XL  Do  you,  O  Mamertines !  dare  to  come  to  praise  any 

one  ?     By  what  authority  ?  by  that  which  you  ought  to  have 

with  the  senatorial  order  ?  by  that  which  you  ought  to  have 

with  the  Eoman  people  1     Is  there  any  city,  not  only  in  our 

provinces,  but  in  the  most  distant  nations,  either  so  powerful, 

or  so  free,  or  so  savage  and  uncivilized?  is  there  any  king, 

who  would  not  invite  a  senator  of  the  Roman  people  to  his 

house  and  to  his  home?     An  honor  which  is  paid  not  only  to 

the  man,  but  in  the  first  place  to  the  Roman  people,  by  whose 

indulgence  we  have  risen  to  this  order,  and  secondly  to  the 

authority  of  this  order ;  and  unless  that  is  respected  among 

our  allies,  where  will  be  the  name  and  dignity  of  the  empire 

among  foreign  nations !     The  Mamertines  did  not  give  me 

any  public  invitation — when  I  say  me,  that  is  a  trifle ;  but 

when  they  did  not  invite  a  senator  of  the  Roman  people,  they 

withheld  an  honor  due  not  to  the  man  but  to  his  order.     For 

to  Tullius  himself,  the  most  splendid  and  magnificent  house 

of  Cnasus  Pompeius   Basilicus  was  opened;    with  whom  he 

would  have  lodged  even  if  he  had  been  invited  by  you.     There 

was  also  the  most  honorable  house  of  the  Percennii,  who  are 

now  also  called  Pompeius ;  where  Lucius  my  brother  lodged 

and  was  received  by  them  with  the  greatest  eagerness.     A 

senator  of  the  Roman  people,  as  far  as  depended  on  you  as  a 

body,  lay  in  your  town,  and  passed  the  night  in  the  public 

streets.     No  other  city  ever  did  such  a  thing.     "  Yes,"  say 

you,    afor   you  were   instituting  a  prosecution   against   our 

friend."     Will  you  put  your  own  interpretation  on  what  pri. 


524  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

vate  business  I  have  of  my  own,  by  diminishing  the  honor  due 
to  the  senate?  But  I  will  make  my  complaint  of  this  con- 
duct, if  ever  the  time  comes  that  there  is  anv  discussion  con- 
cerning  you  among  that  body,  which,  up  to  this  time,  has 
been  affronted  by  no  one  but  you.  With  what  face  have  you 
presented  yourself  before  the  eyes  of  the  Roman  people  ?  when 
you  have  not  yet  pulled  down  that  cross,  which  is  even  now 
stained  with  the  blood  of  a  Roman  citizen,  which  is  fixed  up 
in  your  city  by  the  harbor,  and  have  not  thrown  it  into  the 
sea  and  purified  all  that  place,  before  you  came  to  Rome,  and 
before  this  tribunal.  On  the  territory  of  the  Mamertines,  con- 
nected with  us  by  treaty,  at  peace  with  us,  is  that  monument 
of  your  cruelty  raised.  Is  not  your  city  the  only  one  where, 
when  any  one  arrives  at  it  from  Italy,  he  sees  the  cross  of  a 
Roman  citizen  before  he  sees  any  friend  of  the  Roman  people"? 
which  you  are  in  the  habit  of  displaying  to  the  people  of 
Rhegium,  whose  city  you  envy,  and  to  your  inhabitants,  Ro- 
man citizens  as  they  are,  to  make  them  think  less  of  them- 
selves, and  be  less  inclined  to  despise  you,  when  they  see  the 
privileges  of  our  citizenship  extinguished  by  such  a  punish- 
ment. 

XII.  But  you  say  you  bought  these  things?  What?  did 
you  forget  to  purchase  of  the  same  Heius  that  Attalic1  tapes- 
try, celebrated  over  the  whole  of  Sicily?  You  might  have 
bought  them  in  the  same  way  as  you  did  the  statues.  For 
what  did  you  do  ?  Did  you  wish  to  spare  the  account-books  ? 
This  escaped  the  notice  of  that  stupid  man  ;  he  thought  that 
what  he  stole  from  the  wardrobe  would  be  less  notorious  than 
what  he  had  stolen  from  the  private  chapel.  But  how  did  ho 
get  it?  I  can  not  relate  it  more  plainly  than  Heius  himself 
related  it  before  you.  When  I  asked,  whether  any  other  part 
of  his  property  had  come  to  Yerres,  he  answered  that  he  had 
sent  him  orders  to  send  the  tapestry  to  Agrigentum  to  him. 
I  asked  whether  he  had  sent  it.  He  replied  as  he  must,  that 
is,  that  he  had  been  obedient  to  the  praetor;  that  he  had  sent 
it. — I  asked  whether  it  had  arrived  at  Agrigentum  ;  he  said 
it  had  arrived. — I  asked  in  what  condition  it  had  returned; 
he  said  it  had  not  returned  yet. — There  was  a  laugh  and  a 
murmur  from  all  the  people.     Did  it  never  occur  to  you  in 

1  Attalus,  king  of  Pergamus,  had  been  the  inventor  of  weaving  gold 
thread  into  tapestry  work,  and  therefore  tapestry  with  gold  threads  inter- 
woven in  it  was  called  by  his  name. 


AGAINST  VERRES.  525 

this  instance  to  order  him  to  make  an  entry  in  his  books,  that 
he  had  sold  you  this  tapestry  too,  for  six  thousand  five  hun- 
dred sesterces"?     Did  you  fear  that  your  debts  would  increase, 
if  these  things  were  to  cost  you  six  thousand  five  hundred  ses- 
terces, which  you  could  easily  sell  for  two  hundred  thousand? 
It  was  worth  that,  believe  me.     You  would  have  been  able  to 
defend  yourself  if  you  had  given  that   sum  for  it.     2so  one 
would  then  have  asked  how  much  it  was  worth.     If  you  could 
only  prove  that  you  had  bought  it,  you  could  easily  make  your 
cause  and  your  conduct  appear  reasonable  to  any  one.     But  as 
it  is,  you  have  no  way  of  getting  out  of  your  difficulty  about 
the  tapestry.     What  shall  I  say  next?     Did  you  take  away 
by  force  some  splendid  harness,  which  is  said  to  have  belonged 
to  King  Hiero,  from  Philarchus  of  Centuripa,  a  wealthy  and 
high-born  man,  or  did  you  buy  it  of  him  ?     When  I  was  in 
Sicily,  this  is  what  I  heard  from  the  Centuripans  and  from 
every  body  else,  for  the  case  was  veiy  notorious ;  people  said 
that  you  had  taken  away  this  harness  from  Philarchus  of  Cen- 
turipa, and  other  very  beautiful  harness  from  Aristus  of  Pa- 
normus,  and  a  third  set  from  Cratippus  of  Tyndarus.     Indeed, 
if  Philarchus  had  sold  it  to  you.  you  would  not,  after  the  pros- 
ecution was  instituted  against  you,  have  promised  to  restore  it. 
But  because  you  saw  that  many  people  knew  o"f  it,  you  thought 
that  if  you  restored  it  to  him,  you  would  only  have  so  much 
the  less,  but  the  original  transaction  would  be  proved  against 
you  nevertheless ;  and  so  you  did  not  restore  it.     Philarchus 
said  in  his  evidence,  that  wrhen  he  became  acquainted  with 
this  disease  of  yours,  as  your  friends  call  it,  he  wished  to  con- 
ceal from  vou  the  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  this  harness ; 
that  when  he  was  summoned  by  you,  he  said  that  he  had  not 
got  any;  and  indeed,  that  he  had  removed  them  to  another 
person's  house,  that  they  might  not  be  found ;  but  that  your 
instinct  was  so  great,  that  you  saw  them  by  the  assistance  of 
the  very  man  in  whose  custody  they  were  deposited ;  that  then 
he  could  not  deny  that  you  had  found  him  out,  and  so  that 
the  harness  was  taken  from  him  against  his  will,  and  without 
any  payment. 

XI  II.  Now,  O  judges,  it  is  worth  your  while  to  know  how 
he  was  accustomed  to  find  and  trace  out  all  these  things. 
There  are  two  brothers,  citizens  of  Cibyra,  Tlepolemus  and 
Hiero,  one  of  whom,  I  believe,  was  accustomed  to  model  in 
wax.  the  other  was  a  painter.     I  fancy  these  men,  as  they  had 


526  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

become  suspected  by  their  fellow-citizens  of  having  plundered 
the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Cibyra,  fearing  a  trial  and  the  punish- 
ment of  the  law,  had  fled  from  their  homes.  As  they  had 
known  that  Verres  was  a  great  connoisseur  of  such  works  as 
theirs,  at  the  time  that  he,  as  you  learned  from  the  witnesses, 
came  to  Cibyra  with  fictitious  bills  of  exchange,  they,  when 
flying  from  their  homes  as  exiles,  came  to  him  when  he  was 
in  Asia.  He  has  kept  them  with  him  ever  since  that  time ; 
and  in  the  robberies  he  committed,  and  in  the  booty  he  ac- 
quired during  his  lieutenancy,  he  greatly  availed  himself  of 
their  assistance  and  their  advice.  These  are  the  men  who 
were  meant  when  Quint  us  Tadius  made  an  entry  in  his  books 
that  he  had  given  things  by  Verres's  order  to  some  Greek 
painters.  They  were  already  well  known  to,  and  had  been 
thoroughly  tried  by  him,  when  he  took  them  with  him  into 
Sicily.  And  when  they  arrived  there,  they  scented  out  and 
tracked  every  thing  in  so  marvelous  a  manner  (you  might  have 
thought  they  were  blood-hounds),  that,  wherever  any  thing 
was,  they  found  it  out  by  some  means  or  other.  Some  things 
they  found  out  by  threatening,  some  by  promising;  this  by 
means  of  slaves,  that  through  freemen  ;  one  thing  by  a  friend, 
another  by  an  enemy.  Whatever  pleased  them  was  sure  to 
be  lost.  They  whose  plate  was  demanded  had  nothing  else 
to  hope,  than  that  Tlepolemus  and  Hiero  might  not  approve 
of  it. 

XIV.  I  will  relate  to  you  this  fact,  O  judges,  most  truly. 
I  recollect  that  Pamphilus  of  Lilybreum,  a  connection  of  mine 
by  ties  of  hospitality,  and  a  personal  friend  of  mine,  a  man  of 
the  highest  birth,  told  me,  that  when  that  man  had  taken  from 
him,  by  his  absolute  power,  an  ewer  made  by  the  hand  of  P>o- 
ethus,  of  exquisite  workmanship  and  great  weight,  he  went 
home  very  sad  in  truth,  and  greatly  agitated,  because  a  vessel 
of  that  sort,  which  had  been  left  to  him  by  his  father  and  his 
forefathers,  and  which  he  was  accustomed  to  use  on  days  of 
festival,  and  on  the  arrival  of  ancient  friends,  had  been  taken 
from  him.  While  I  was  sitting  at  home,  said  he,  in  great  in- 
dignation, up  comes  one  of  the  slaves  of  Venus;  he  orders  me 
immediately  to  bring  to  the  prretor  some  embossed  goblets.  I 
was  greatly  vexed,  said  he;  I  had  two;  I  order  them  both  to 
be  taken  out  of  the  closet,  lest  any  worse  thing  should  happen, 
and  to  be  brought  after  me  to  the  praetor's  house.  When  I 
got  there  the  praetor  was  asleep ;   the  Cibyratic  brother*  were 


AGAINST  VERRES  527 

walking  about,  and  when  they  saw  me,  they  said,  Pamphilus, 
where  are  the  cups?  I  show  them  with  great  grief; — they 
praise  them. — I  begin  to  complain  that  I  shall  have  nothing 
left  of  any  value  at  all,  if  my  cups  too  were  taken  away.  Then 
they,  when  they  see  me  vexed,  say,  Wliat  are  you  willing  to 
give  us  to  prevent  these  from  being  taken  from  you?  To  make 
my  story  short,  I  said  that  I  would  give  six  hundred  sesterces. 
Meantime  the  praetor  summons  us;  he  asks  for  the  cups.  Then 
they  began  to  say  to  the  praetor,  that  they  had  thought  from 
what  they  had  heard,  that  Pamphilus' s  cups  were  of  some 
value,  but  that  they  were  miserable  things,  epiite  unworthy  of 
Verres's  having  them  among  his  plate.  He  said,  he  thought^. 
so  too.  So  Pamphilus  saved  his  exquisite  goblets.  And  in- 
deed, before  I  heard  this,  though  I  knew  that  it  was  a  very 
trifling  sort  of  accomplishment  to  understand  things  of  that 
sort,  yet  I  used  to  wonder  that  he  had  any  knowledge  of  them 
at  all,  as  I  knew  that  in  nothing  whatever  had  he  any  quali- 
ties like  a  man. 

XY.  But  when  I  heard  this,  I  then  for  the  first  time  un- 
derstood that  that  was  the  use  of  these  two  Cibyratic  broth- 
ers; that  in  his  robberies  he  used  his  own  hands,  but  their 
eyes.  But  he  was  so  covetous  of  that  splendid  reputation  of  J 
being  thought  to  be  a  judge  of  such  matters,  that  lately  (just 
observe  the  man's  madness),  after  his  case  was  adjourned,  wheu  m 
he  was  already  as  good  as  condemned,  and  civilly  dead,  at  the 
time  of  the  games  of  the  circus,  when  earlv  in  the  morning 
the  couches  were  spread  in  preparation  for  a  banquet  at  the 
house  of  Lucius  Sisenna,  a  man  of  the  first  consideration,  and 
when  the  plate  was  all  set  out,  and  when,  as  was  suited  to  the 
dignity  of  Lucius  Sisenna,  the  house  was  full  of  honorable 
men,  he  came  to  the  plate,  and  began  in  a  leisurely  way  to 
examine  and  consider  every  separate  piece.  Some  marveled 
at  the  folly  of  the  man,  who,  while  his  trial  was  actually  goiv.g 
on,  was  increasing  the  suspicion  of  that  covetousness  of  which 
he  was  accused ;  others  marveled  at  his  insensibility,  that  any 
such  things  could  come  into  his  head,  when  the  time  for  judg- 
ment in  his  cause  was  so  near  at  hand,  and  when  so  many 
witnesses  had  spoken  against  him.  But  Sisenna's  servants, 
who,  I  suppose,  had  heard  the  evidence  which  had  been  given 
against  him,  never  took  their  eyes  oiF  him,  and  never  departed 
out  of  reach  of  the  plate.  It  is  the  part  of  a  sagacious  judge, 
from  small  circumstances  to  form  his  opinion  of  every  man's 


528  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

covetousncFs  or  incontinence.  And  will  any  one  believe  that 
this  man  when  praetor,  was  able  to  keep  either  his  covetous- 
ness  or  his  hands  from  the  plate  of  the  Sicilians,  when,  though 
a  defendant,  and  a  defendant  within  two  days  of  judgment,  a 
man  in  reality,  and  in  the  opinion  of  all  men  as  good  as  already 
condemned,  he  could  not  in  a  large  assembly  restrain  himself 
from  handling  and  examining  the  plate  of  Lucius  Sisenna? 

XYL   But  that  my  discourse  may  return  to  Lilybseum,  from 
which  I  have  made  this  digression,  there  is  a  man  named  Dio- 
des, the  son-in-law  of  Pamphilus,  of  that  Pamphilus  from  whom 
the  ewer  was  taken  away,  whose  surname  is  Popillius.     From 
this  man  he  took  away  every  article  on  his  side-board  where 
his  plate  was  set  out.     He  may  say,  if  he  pleases,  that  he  had 
bought  them.     In  fact,  in  this  case,  by  reason  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  robbery,  an  entry  of  it,  I  imagine,  has  been  made 
in  the  account-books.     He  ordered  Timarchides  to  value  the 
plate.     How  did  he  do  it?     At  as  low  a  price  as  any  one 
ever  valued  any  thing  presented  to  an  actor.      Although  I 
have  been  for  some  time  acting  foolishly  in  saying  so  much 
about  your  purchases,  and  in  asking  whether  you  bought  the 
things,  and  how,  and  at  what  price  you  bought  them,  when  I 
can  settle  all  that  by  one  word.     Produce  me  a  written  list 
of  what  plate  you  acquired  in  the  province  of  Sicily,  from 
whom,  and  at  what  price   you  bought  each  article.     What 
will  you  do  ?     Though  I  ought  not  to  ask  you  for  these  ac- 
counts, for  I  ought  to  have  your  account-books  and  to  pro- 
duce them.     But  you  say  that  you  never  kept  any  accounts 
of  your  expenses  in  these  years.     Make  me  out  at  least  this 
one  which  I  am  asking  for,  the  account  of  the  plate,  and  I 
will  not  mind  the  rest  at  present.      "  I  have  no  writings  of  the 
sort ;  I  can  not  produce  any  accounts."     What  then  is  to  be 
done?     What  do  you  think  that  these  judges  can  do?     Your 
house  was  full  of  most  beautiful  statues  already,  before  your 
praetorship;  many  were  placed  in  your  villas,  many  were  de- 
posited with  your  friends  ;  many  were  given  and  presented  to 
other  people;  yet  you  have  no  accounts  speaking  of  any  sin- 
gle one  having  been  bought.      All  the  plate  in  Sicily  has  been 
laken  away.     There  is  nothing  left  to  any  one  that  can  be 
called  his  own.     A  scandalous  defense  is  invented,  that  the 
praetor  bought  all  that  plate;   and  yet  that  ('an  not  he  proved 
by  any  accounts.     If  you  do  produce  any  accounts,  still  there 
is  no  entry  in  them  how  you   have  acquired   tvhat    you   havo 


AGAINST  VERRES.  529 

got.  But  of  these  years  during  which  you  say  that  you 
bought  the  greatest  number  of  things,  you  produce  no  ac- 
counts at  all.  Must  you  not  inevitably  be  condemned,  both 
by  the  accounts  which  you  do,  and  by  those  which  you  do  not 
produce  ? 

XVII.  You  also  took  away  at  Lilybneum  whatever  silver 
vessels  you  chose  from  Marcus  Crelius,  a  Roman  knight,  a 
most  excellent  young  man.  You  did  not  hesitate  to  take 
away  the  whole  furniture  of  Caius  Cacurius,  a  most  active 
and  accomplished  man,  and  of  the  greatest  influence  in  his 
city.  You  took  away,  with  the  knowledge  of  every  body,  a 
very  large  and  very  beautiful  table  of  citron-wood  from  Quin- 
tus  Lutatius  Diodorus,  who,  owing  to  the  kind  exertion  of  his 
interest  by  Quintus  Catulus,  was  made  a  Roman  citizen  by 
Lucius  Sylla.  I  do  not  object  to  you  that  you  stripped  and 
plundered  a  most  worthy  imitator  of  yours  in  his  whole  char- 
acter, Apollonius,  the  son  of  Nico,  a  citizen  of  Drepanum, 
who  is  now  called  Aulus  Clodius,  of  all  his  exquisitely  wrought 
silver  plate ; — I  say  nothing  of  that.  For  he  does  not  think 
that  any  injury  has  been  done  to  him,  because  you  came  to  * 
his  assistance  when  he  was  a  ruined  man,  with  the  rope  round 
his  neck,  and  shared  with  him  the  property  belonging  to  their 
father,  of  which  he  had  plundered  his  wards  at  Drepanum. 
I  am  even  very  glad  if  you  took  any  thing  from  him,  and  I 
say  that  nothing  was  ever  better  done  by  you.  But  it  cer- 
tainly was  not  right  that  the  statue  of  Apollo  should  have 
been  taken  away  from  Lyso  of  Lilybaeum,  a  most  eminent 
man,  with  whom  you  have  been  staying  as  a  guest.  But 
you  will  say  that  you  bought  it — I  know  that — for  six  hun- 
dred sesterces.  So  I  suppose :  I  know  it,  I  say ;  I  will  pro- 
duce the  accounts ;  and  yet  that  ought  not  to  have  been  done. 
Will  you  say  that  the  drinking-vessels  with  emblems  of  Lily- 
baeum on  them  were  bought  from  Heius,  the  minor  to  whom 
Marcellus  is  guardian,  whom  you  had  plundered  of  a  large 
sum  of  money,  or  will  you  confess  that  they  were  taken  by 
force  ? 

But  why  do  I  enumerate  all  his  ordinary  iniquities  in  affairs 
of  this  sort,  which  appear  to  consist  only  in  robberies  commit- 
ted by  him,  and  in  losses  borne  by  those  whom  he  plundered'? 
Listen,  if  you  please,  O  judges,  to  an  action  of  such  a  sort  as 
will  prove  to  you  clearly  his  extraordinary  madness  andphren- 
sy,  rather  than  any  ordinary  covetousness. 

Z 


530  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

XVIII.  There  is  a  man  of  Melita,  called  Diodorus,  who 
has  already  given  evidence  before  you.  He  has  been  now 
living  at  Lilybamm  many  years ;  a  man  of  great  nobility  at 
home,  and  of  great  credit  and  popularity  with  the  people 
among  whom  he  has  settled,  on  account  of  his  virtue.  It  is 
reported  to  Verres  of  this  man  that  he  has  some  exceedingly 
fine  specimens  of  chased  work ;  and  among  them  two  goblets 
called  Thericlean,1  made  by  the  hand  of  Mentor  with  the  most 
exquisite  skill.  And  when  Verres  heard  of  this,  he  was  in- 
flamed with  such  a  desire,  not  only  of  beholding,  but  also  of 
appropriating  them,  that  he  summoned  Diodorus,  and  demand- 
ed them.  He  replied,  as  wras  natural  for  a  man  who  took  great 
pride  in  them,  that  he  had  not  got  them  at  Lilybaeum ;  that 
he  had  left  them  at  Melita,  in  the  bouse  of  a  relation  of  his. 
On  this  he  immediately  sends  men  on  whom  he  can  rely  to 
Melita;  he  writes  to  certain  inhabitants  of  Melita  to  search 
out  those  vessels  for  him ;  he  desires  Diodorus  to  give  them 
letters  to  that  relation  of  his — the  time  appeared  to  him  end- 
less till  he  could  see  those  pieces  of  plate.  Diodorus,  a  pru- 
dent and  careful  man,  who  wished  to  keep  his  own  property, 
writes  to  his  relation  to  make  answer  to  those  men  who  came 
from  Verres,  that  he  had  sent  the  cups  to  Lilybaeum  a  few 
days  before.  In  the  mean  time  he  himself  leaves  the  place. 
He  preferred  leaving  his  home,  to  staying  in  it  and  losing  that 
exquisitely  wrought  silver  work.  But  when  Verres  heard  of 
this,  he  was  so  agitated  that  he  seemed  to  every  one  to  be  rav 
ing,  and  to  be  beyond  all  question  mad.  Because  he  could 
not  steal  the  plate  himself,  he  said  that  he  had  been  robbed 
by  Diodorus  of  some  exquisitely  wrought  vessels ;  he  poured 
out  threats  against  the  absent  Diodorus;  he  used  to  roar  out 
before  people;  sometimes  he  could  not  restrain  his  tears.  We 
have  heard  in  the  mythology  of  Eriphyla  being  so  covetous 
that  when  she  had  seen  a  necklace,  made,  I  suppose,  of  gold 
and  jewels,  she  was  so  excited  by. its  beauty,  that  she  betrayed 
her  husband  for  the  sake  of  it.  His  covetouaness  was  similar; 
but  in  one  respect  more  violent  and  more  senseless,  because 
she  was  desiring  a  thing  which  she  had  seen,  while  his  wishes 
were  excited  not  only  by  his  eyes,  but  even  by  his  ears. 

1  "  Thericles  was  a  potter  in  the  time  of  Aristophanes,  who  made  enrth- 
cn-ware  vessels  of  a  peculiar  black  clay.  In  subsequent  lime,  any  gobleta 
made  in  imitation  of  his,  whether  of  wood,  silver,  or  glass,  were  called 
Thericlean." — ( Jra-vius. 


AGAINPT  VERRES.  533 

XIX.  He  orders  Diodorus  to  be  sought  for  over  the  whole 
province.  He  had  by  this  time  struck  his  camp,  packed  up 
his  baggage,  and  left  Sicily.  Verres,  in  order  by  some  means 
or  other  to  bring  the  man  back  to  the  province,  devises  this 
plan,  if  it  is  to  be  called  a  plan,  and'  not  rather  a  piece  of  mad- 
ness. He  sets  up  one  of  the  men  he  calls  his  hounds,  to  say 
that  he  wishes  to  institute  a  prosecution  against  Diodorus  of 
Melita  for  a  capital  offense.  At  first  all  men  wondered  at 
such  a  thing  being  imputed  to  Diodorus,  a  most  quiet  man, 
and  as  far  removed  as  any  man  from  all  suspicion,  not  only 
of  crime,  but  of  even  the  slightest  irregularity.  But  it  soon 
became  evident,  that  all  this  was  done  for  the  sake  of  his  sil- 
ver. Verres  does  not  hesitate  to  order  the  prosecution  to  be 
instituted ;  and  that,  I  imagine,  was  the  first  instance  of  his 
allowing  an  accusation  to  be  made  against  an  absent  man. 
The  matter  was  notorious  over  all  Sicily,  that  men  wrere  pros- 
ecuted for  capital  offenses  because  the  praetor  coveted  their 
phased  silver  plate ;  and  that  prosecutions  were  instituted 
against  them  not  only  when  they  were  present,  but  even  in 
their  absence.  Diodorus  goes  to  Rome,  and  putting  on 
mourning,  calls  on  all  his  patrons  and  friends ;  relates  the 
affair  to  every  one.  Earnest  letters  are  written  to  Verres  by 
his  father,  and  by  his  friends,  warning  him  to  take  care  what 
he  did,  and  what  steps  he  took  respecting  Diodorus ;  that  the 
matter  was  notorious  and  very  unpopular ;  that  he  must  be 
out  of  his  senses ;  that  this  one  charge  would  ruin  him  if  he 
did  not  take  care.  At  that  time  he  considered  his  father,  if 
not  in  the  light  of  a  parent,  at  least  in  that  of  a  man.  He 
had  not  yet  sufficiently  prepared  himself  for  a  trial ;  it  was 
his  first  year  in  the  province;  he  was  not,  as  he  was  by  the 
time  of  the  affair  of  Sthenius,  loaded  with  money.  And  so 
his  phrensy  was  checked  a  little,  not  by  shame,  but  by  fear 
and  alarm.  He  does  not  dare  to  condemn  Diodorus ;  he 
takes  his  name  out  of  the  list  of  defendants  while  he  is  absent. 
In  the  mean  time  Diodorus,  for  nearly  three  years,  as  long  as 
that  man  was  praetor,  was  banished  from  the  province  .and 
from  his  home.  Every  one  else,  not  only  Sicilians,  but  Ro- 
man citizens  too,  settled  this  in  their  minds,  that,  since  he  had 
carried  his  covetousness  to  such  an  extent,  there  was  nothing 
which  any  one  could  expect  to  preserve  or  retain  in  his  own 
possession  if  it  was  admired  ever  so  little  by  Verres. 

XX.  But  after  they  understood  that  that  brave  man,  Quin- 


532  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tus  Arrius,  whom  the  province  was  eagerly  looking  for,  was 
not  his  successor,  they  then  settled  that  they  could  keep  no- 
thing so  carefully  shut  up  or  hidden  away,  as  not  to  be  most 
open  and  visible  to  his  covetousness.  After  that,  he  took 
away  from  an  honorable  and  highly  esteemed  Roman  knight, 
named  Cnaeus  Calidius,  whose  son  he  knew  to  be  a  senator 
of  the  Roman  people  and  a  judge,  some  beautiful  silver  horses 
which  had  belonged  to  Quintus  Maximus.  I  did  not  mean 
to  say  this,  O  judges,  for  he  bought  those,  he  did  not  steal 
them  ;  I  wish  I  had  not  mentioned  them.  Noav  he  will  boast, 
and  have  a  fine  ride  on  these  horses.  "  I  bought  them,  I  have 
paid  the  money  for  them."  I  have  no  doubt  account-books 
also  will  be  produced.  It  is  wrell  worth  while.  Give  me 
then  the  account-books.  You  are  at  liberty  to  get  rid  of  this 
charge  respecting  Calidius,  as  long  as  I  can  get  a  sight  of  these 
accounts ;  still,  if  you  had  bought  them,  what  ground  had 
Calidius  for  complaining  at  Rome,  that,  though  he  had  been 
living  so  many  years  in  Sicily  as  a  trader,  you  were  the  only 
person  who  had  so  despised  and  so  insulted  him,  as  to  plunder 
him  in  common  with  all  the  rest  of  the  Sicilians  ?  what  ground 
had  he  for  declaring  that  he  would  demand  his  plate  back 
again  from  you,  if  he  had  sold  it  to  you  of  his  own  free  Mill ! 
Moreover,  how  could  you  avoid  restoring  it  to  Cnaeus  Calidius; 
especially  when  he  was  such  an  intimate  friend  of  Lueiu< 
Sisenna,  your  defender,  and  as  you  had  restored  their  prop- 
erty to  the  other  friends  of  Sisenna?  Lastly,  I  do  not  sup- 
pose you  will  deny  that  by  the  intervention  of  Potamo,  a 
friend  of  yours,  you  restored  his  plate  to  Lucius  Cordius,  an 
honorable  man,  but  not  more  highly  esteemed  than  Cnaeus 
Calidius  ;  and  it  was  he  who  made  the  cause  of  the  rest  more 
difficult  to  plead  before  you ;  for  though  you  had  promised 
many  men  to  restore  them  their  property,  yet,  after  Cordius 
had  stated  in  his  evidence  that  you  had  restored  him  his,  you 
desisted  from  making  any  more  restorations,  because  you  saw 
that  you  lost  your  plunder,  and  yet  could  not  escape  the  evi- 
dence against  you.  Under  all  other  praetors  Cnaeus  Calidius, 
a  Roman  knight,  was  allowed  to  have  plate  finely  wrought ; 
he  was  permitted  to  be  able  from  his  own  stores  to  adorn  ami 
furnish  a  banquet  handsomely,  when  he  had  invited  a  magis- 
trate or  any  superior  officer.  Many  men  in  power  and  au- 
thority have  been  with  Cnaeus  Calidius  at  his  house  ;  no  one 
was  ever  found  so  mad  as  to  take  from  him   that   admirable 


AGATNST  VERRES  533 

and  splendid  plate  ;  no  one  was  found  bold  enough  to  ask  for 
it ;  no  one  impudent  enough  to  beg  him  to  sell  it.  For  it  is 
an  arrogant  thing,  an  intolerable  thing,  O  judges,  for  a  prae- 
tor to  say  to  an  honorable,  and  rich,  and  well-appointed  man 
in  his  province,  "Sell  me  those  chased  goblets."  For  it  is 
saying,  "You  do  not  deserve  to  have  things  which  are  so 
beautifully  made;  they  are  better  suited  to  a  man  of  my 
stamp."  Are  you,  O  Verres,  more  worthy  than  Calidius  ? 
whom  (not  to  compare  your  way  of  life  with  his,  for  they  are 
not  to  be  compared,  but)  I  will  compare  you  with  in  respect 
of  this  very  dignity  owing  to  which  you  make  yourself  out  his 
superior.  You  gave  eighty  thousand  sesterces  to  canvassing 
agents  to  procure  your  election  as  praetor ;  }rou  gave  three 
hundred  thousand  to  an  accuser  not  to  press  hardly  upon  you: 
do  you,  on  that  account,  look  down  upon  and  despise  the 
equestrian  order"?  Is  it  on  that  account  that  it  seemed  to 
you  a  scandalous  thing  that  Calidius  should  have  any  thing 
that  you  admired  rather  than  that  you  should'? 

XXL  He  has  been  long  boasting  of  this  transaction  with 
Calidius,  and  telling  every  one  that  he  bought  the  things. 
Did  you  also  buy  that  censer  of  Lucius  Papirius,  a  man  of 
the  highest  reputation,  wealth,  and  honor,  and  a  Roman 
knight?  who  stated  in  his  evidence  that,  when  you  had  begged 
for  it  to  look  at,  you  returned  it  with  the  emblems  torn  off; 
so  that  you  may  understand  that  it  is  all  taste  in  that  man, 
not  avarice;  that  it  is  the  fine  work  that  he  covets,  not  the 
silver.  Nor  was  this  abstinence  exercised  only  in  the  case 
of  Papirius ;  he  practiced  exactly  the  same  conduct  with  re- 
spect to  every  censer  in  Sicily  ;  and  it  is  quite  incredible  how 
many  beautifully  wrought  censers  there  were.  I  imagine  that, 
when  Sicily  was  at  the  height  of  its  power  and  opulence, 
there  were  extensive  work-shops  in  that  island ;  for  before  that 
man  went  thither  as  pra-tor  there  was  no  house  tolerably  rich, 
in  which  there  were  not  these  things,  even  if  there  was  no 
other  silver  plate  besides ;  namely,  a  large  dish  with  figures 
and  images  of  the  gods  embossed  on  it,  a  goblet  which  the 
women  used  for  sacred  purposes,  and  a  censer.  And  all  these 
were  antique,  and  executed  with  the  most  admirable  skill,  so 
that  one  may  suspect  every  thing  else  in  Sicily  was  on  a  simi- 
lar scale  of  magnificence  ;  but  that  though  fortune  had  deprived 
them  of  much,  those  things  were  still  preserved  among  them 
winch  -»"-ere  retained  for  purposes  of  religion.    I  said  just  now, 


534  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

O  judges,  that  there  were  many  censers,  in  almost  every  house 
in  fact  ;  I  assert  also,  that  now  there  is  not  even  one  left 
What  is  the  meaning  of  this  %  what  monster,  what  prodigy 
did  we  send  into  the  province  ?  Does  it  not  appear  to  you 
that  he  desired,  when  he  returned  to  Rome,  to  satisfy  not  the 
covetousness  of  one  man,  not  his  own  eyes  only,  but  the  insane 
passion  of  every  covetous  man  ;  for  as  soon  as  he  ever  came 
into  any  city,  immediately  those  Cibyratic  hounds  of  his  were 
slipped,  to  search  and  find  out  every  thing.  If  they  found 
any  large  vessel,  any  considerable  work,  they  brought  it  to 
him  with  joy  ;  if  they  could  hunt  out  any  smaller  vessel  of 
the  same  sort,  they  looked  on  those  as  a  sort  of  lesser  game, 
whether  they  were  dishes,  cups,  censers,  or  any  thing  else. 
What  weepings  of  women,  what  lamentations  do  you  suppose 
took  place  over  these  things  |  things  which  may  perhaps  seem 
insignificant  to  you,  but  which  excite  great  and  bitter  indig- 
nation, especially  among  women,  who  grieve  when  those  things 
are  torn  from  their  hands  which  they  have  been  accustomed 
to  use  in  religious  ceremonies,  which  they  have  received  from 
their  ancestors,  and  which  have  always  been  in  their  family. 

XXII.  Do  not  now  wait  while  I  follow  up  this  charge  from 
door  to  door,  and  show  you  that  he  stole  a  goblet  from  iEschy- 
lus  the  Tyndaritan  ;  a  dish  from  another  citizen  of  Tyndaris 
named  Thraso ;  a  censer  from  Nymphodorus  of  Agrigentum. 
"When  I  produce  my  witnesses  from  Sicily  he  may  s-elcct 
whom  he  pleases  for  me  to  examine  about  dishes,  goblets,  and 
censers.  Not  only  no  town,  no  single  house  that  is  tolerably 
well  off  will  be  found  to  have  been  free  from  the  injurious 
treatment  of  this  man;  who,  even  if  he  had  come  to  a  banquet, 
if  he  saw  any  finely  wrought  plate,  could  not,  O  judges,  keep 
his  hands  from  it.  There  is  a  man  named  CnaeuS  Pompeius 
Philo,  who  was  a  native  of  Tyndaris  ;  he  gave  Verr.es  a  sup- 
per at  his  villa  in  the  country  near  Tyndaris ;  he  did  what 
Sicilians  did  not  dare  to  do,  but  what,  because  he  was  a  citi- 
zen of  Home,  he  thought  he  could  do  with  impunity,  he  put 
before  him  a  dish  on  which  were  some  exceedingly  beautiful 
figures.  Verres,  the  moment  he  saw  it,  determined  to  rob  bis 
host's  table  of  that  memorial  of  the  Penates  and  of  the  gods 
of  hospitality.  But  yet,  in  accordance  with  what  I  have  said 
before  of  his  great  moderation,  he  restored  the  rest  of  the 
silver  after  he  had  torn  off  the  figures  ;  so  free  was  he  from 
'41  avarice !     What  want  you  more  ?     Did  he  not  do  the  same 


AGAINST  VERRES.  535 

thing  to  Eupolemus  of  Calacta,  a  noble  man,  connected  with, 
and°an  intimate  friend  of  the  Luculli ;  a  man  who  is  now 
serving  in  the  army  under  Lucius  Lucullus  %     He  was  supping 
with  him  ;  the  rest  of  the  silver  which  he  had  set  before  him 
had  no  ornament  on  it,  lest  he  himself  should  also  be  left  with- 
out any  ornament ;  but  there  were  also  two  goblets,  of  no 
large  size,  but  with  figures  on  them.     He,  as  if  he  had  been 
a  professional  diner-out,  who  was  not  to  go  away  without  a 
present,  on  the  spot,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  other  guests,  tore 
off  the  figures.     I  do  not  attempt  to  enumerate  all  his  exploits 
of  this  sort ;  it  is  neither  necessary  nor  possible.     I  only  pro- 
duce to  you  tokens  and  samples  of  each  description  of  his 
varied  and  universal  rascality.     Nor  did  he  behave  in  these 
affairs  as  if  he  would  some  day  or  other  be  called  to  account 
for  them,  but  altogether  as  if  he  was  either  never  likely  to  be 
prosecuted,  or  else  as  if  the  more  he  stole,  the  less  would  be 
his  danger  when  he  was  brought  before  the  court ;  inasmuch 
as  he  did  these  things  which  I  am  speaking  of  not  secretly, 
not  by  the  instrumentality  of  friends  or  agents,  but  openly, 
from  his  high  position,  by  his  own  power  and  authority. 

XXIH.  When  he  had  come  to  Catina,  a  wealthy,  honor- 
able, influential  city,  he  ordered  Dionysiarchus  the  proagorus, 
that  is  to  say,  the  chief  magistrate,  to  be  summoned  before 
him ;  he  openly  orders  him  \o  take  care  that  all  the  silver 
plate  which  was  in  any  body's  house  at  Catina,  was  collected 
together  and  brought  to  him.     Did  you  not  hear  Philarchus 
ofXenturipa,  a  man  of  the  highest  position  as  to  noble  birth, 
and  virtue,  and  riches,  say  the  same  thing  on  his  oath  ;  name- 
ly, that  Yerres  had  charged  and  commanded  him  to  collect  to- 
gether, and  order  to  be  conveyed  to  him,  all  the  silver  plate 
at  Centuripa,  by  far  the  largest  and  wealthiest  city  in  all  Sic- 
ily?    In  the  same   manner   at  Agyrium,  all  the  Corinthian 
vessels  there  were   there,  in   accordance  with  his  command, 
were  transported  to  Syracuse  by  the  agency  of  Apollodorus, 
whom  you  have  heard  as  a  witness.     But  the  most  extraor- 
dinary conduct  of  all  was  this  ;  when  that  painstaking  and 
industrious  praetor  had  arived  at  Haluntium,  he  would  not 
himself  go  up  into  the  town,  because  the  ascent  was  steep 
and  difficult ;  but  he  ordered  Archagathus  of  Haluntium,  one 
of  the  noblest  men,  not  merely  in  his  own  city,  but  in  ail 
Sicily,  to  be  summoned  before  him,  and  gave  him  a  charge 
to  take  care  that  all  the  chased  silver  that  there  was   at 


530  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Haluntium,  and  every  specimen  of  Corinthian  work  too, 
should  be  at  once  taken  down  from  the  town  to  the  sea-side. 
Archagathus  went  up  into  the  town.  That  noble  .man,  as 
one  who  wished  to  be  loved  and  esteemed  by  his  fellow-cit- 
izens, was  very  indignant  at  having  such  an  office  imposed 
upon  him,  and  did  not  know  what  to  do.  lie  announces  the 
commands  he  has  received.  He  orders  every  one  to  produce 
what  they  had.  There  was  great  consternation,  for  the  tyrant 
himself  had  not  gone  away  to  any  distance ;  lying  on  a  litter 
by  the  sea-side  below  the  town,  he  was  waiting  for  Archaga- 
thus and  the  silver  plate.  What  a  gathering  of  people  do  you 
suppose  took  place  in  the  town  1  what  an  uproar  ?  what 
weeping  of  women?  they  who  saw  it  would  have  said  that 
the  Trojan  horse  had  been  introduced,  and  that  the  city  was 
taken.  Vessels  were  brought  out  without  their  cases  ;  others 
were  wrenched  out  of  the  hands  of  women ;  many  people's 
doors  were  broken  open,  and  their  locks  forced.  For  what 
else  can  you  suppose  ?  Even  if  ever,  at  a  time  of  war  and 
tumult,  arms  are  demanded  of  private  citizens,  still  men  give 
them  unwillingly,  though  they  know  that  they  are  giving 
them  for  the  common  safety.  Do  not  suppose  then  that  any 
one  produced  his  carved  plate  out  of  his  house  for  another 
man  to  steal,  without  the  greatest  distress.  Every  tiling  is 
brought  down  to  the  shore.  The  Cibyratic  brothers  are  sum- 
moned ;  they  condemn  some  articles ;  whatever  they  approve 
of  has  its  figures  in  relief  or  its  embossed  emblems  torn  off. 
And  so  the  Haluntines,  having  had  all  their  ornaments 
wrenched  off,  returned  home  with  the  plain  silver. 

XXIV.  Was  there  ever,  O  judges,  a  drag-net  of  such  a 
sort  as  this  in  that  province  ?  People  have  sometimes  during 
their  year  of  office  diverted  some  part  of  the  public  property 
to  their  own  use,  in  the  most  secret  manner ;  sometimes  they 
even  secretly  plundered  some  private  citizen  of  something ; 
and  still  they  were  condemned.  And  if  you  ask  me,  though 
I  am  detracting  somewhat  from  my  own  credit  by  saying  so, 
I  think  those  were  the  real  accusers,  who  traced  the  robberies 
of  such  men  as  this  by  scent,  or  by  some  lightly  imprinted 
footsteps;  for  what  is  it  that  we  are  doing  in  respect  of  Yer. 
res,  who  has  wallowed  in  the  mud  till  we  can  find  him  out  by 
the  traces  of  his  whole  body?  Is  it  a  great  undertaking  to 
say  any  thing  against  a  man,  who  while  he  was  passing  by  a 
place,  having  his  litter  put  down  to  rest  for  a  little  time,  plun- 


AGAINST  VLRRES.  537 

dered  a  whole  city,  house  by  house,  without  condescending  to 
any  pretenses,  openly,  by  his  own  authority,  and  by  an  absolute 
command  !  But  still,  that  he  might  be  able  to  say  that  he  had 
bought  them,  he  orders  Archagathus  to  give  those  men,  to 
whom  the  plate  had  belonged,  some  little  money,  just  for  form's 
sake.  Archagathus  found  a  few  who  would  accept  the  money, 
and  those  he  paid. — And  still  Verres  never  paid  Archagathus 
that  money.  Archagathus  intended  to  claim  it  at  Borne  ; 
but  Cmtus  Lentulus  Marcellinus  dissuaded  him,  as  you  heard 
him  state  himself.  Read  the  evidence  of  Archagathus,  and 
of  Lentulus, — and  that  you  may  not  imagine  that  the  man 
wished  to  heap  up  such  a  mass  of  figures  without  any  reason, 
just  see  at  what  rate  he  valued  you,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  the  laws,  and  the  courts  of  justice,  and  the 
Sicilian  witnesses  and  traders.  After  he  had  collected  such  a 
vast  number  of  figures  that  he  had  not  left  one  single  figure  to 
any  body,  he  established  an  immense  shop  in  the  palace  at 
Syracuse;  he  openly  orders  all  the  manufacturers,  and  carv- 
ers, and  goldsmiths  to  be  summoned  —  and  he  himself  had 
many  in  his  own  employ  ;  he  collects  a  great  multitude  of 
men ;  he  kept  them  employed  uninterruptedly  for  eight  months  -if 
though  all  that  time  no  vessels  were  made  of  any  thing  but3 
gold.  In  that  time  he  had  so  skillfully  wrought  the  figures 
which  he  had  torn  off  the  goblets  and  censers,  into  golden  gob- 
lets, or  had  so  ingenious!}'  joined  them  into  golden  cups,  that 
you  would  say  that  they  had  been  made  for  that  very  pur- 
pose ;  and  he,  the  prastor,  who  says  that  it  was  owing  to  his 
vigilance  that  peace  was  maintained  in  Sicily,  was  accustomed 
to^it  in  his  tunic  and  dark  cloak  the  greater  part  of  the  day 
in  this  work -shop. 

XXV.  I  would  not  venture,  O  judges,  to  mention  these 
things,  if  I  were  not  afraid  that  you  might  perhaps  say  that 
you  had  heard  more  about  that  man  from  others  in  common 
conversation,  than  you  had  heard  from  me  in  this  trial ;  for 
who  is  there  who  has  not  heard  of  this  work-shop,  of  the 
golden  vessels,  of  Verres' s  tunic  and  dark  cloak  ?  Name  any 
respectable  man  you  please  out  of  the  whole  body  of  settlers 
at  Syracuse,  I  will  produce  him  ;  there  will  not  be  one  person 
who  will  not  say  that  he  has  either  teen  this  or  heard  of  it. 
Alas  for  the  age!  alas  for  the  degeneracy  of  our  manners!  I 
will  not  mention  any  thing  of  any  great  antiquity  ;  there  are 
many  of  you,  O  judges,  who  knew  Lucius  Piso,  the  father  of 

Z2 


;38  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this  Lucius  Piso,  who  was  praetor.  When  he  was  prastor  in 
Spain,  in  which  province  he  was  slain,  somehow  or  other, 
while  he  was  practicing  his  exercises  in  arms,  the  golden  ring 
which  he  had  was  broken  and  crushed.,  As  he  wanted  to  get 
himself  another  ring,  he  ordered  a  goldsmith  to  be  summoned 
into  the  forum  before  his  throne  of  office,  at  Corduba,  and 
openly  weighed  him  out  the  gold.  He  ordered  the  man  to 
set  up  his  bench  in  the  forum,  and  to  make  him  a  ring  in  the 
presence  of  every  one.  Perhaps  in  truth  some  may  say  that 
he  was  too  exact,  and  to  this  extent  any  one  who  chooses  may 
blame  him,  but  no  further.  Still  such  conduct  was  allowable 
for  him,  for  he  was  the  son  of  Lucius  Piso,  of  that  man  who 
first  made  the  law  about  extortion  and  embezzlement.  It  is 
quite  ridiculous  for  me  to  speak  of  Verres  now,  when  I  have 
just  been  speaking  of  Piso  the  Thrifty ;  still,  see  what  a  dif- 
ference there  is  between  the  men  ;  that  man,  while  he  was 
making  some  side-boards  full  of  golden  vessels,  did  not  care 
what  his  reputation  was,  not  only  in  Sicily,  but  also  at  Rome 
in  the  court  of  justice;  the  other  wished  all  Spain  to  know  to 
half  an  ounce  how  much  gold  it  took  to  make  a  praetor's  ring- 
Forsooth,  as  the  one  proved  his  right  to  his  name,  so  did  tha 
other  to  his  surname. 

XXVI.  It  is  utterly  impossible  for  me  either  to  retain  in 
my  memory,  or  to  embrace  in  my  speech,  all  his  exploits.  I 
wish  just  to  touch  briefly  on  the  different  kinds  of  deeds  done 
by  him,  just  as  here  the  ring  of  Piso  reminded  me  of  what  had 
otherwise  entirely  escaped  my  recollection.  From  how  many 
honorable  men  do  you  imagine  that  that  man  tore  the  golden 
rings  from  off  their  fingers  ?  He  never  hesitated  to  do  so 
whenever  he  was  pleased  writh  either  the  jewels  or  the  fashion 
of  the  ring  belonging  to  any  one.  I  am  going  to  mention  an 
incredible  fact,  but  still  one  so  notorious  that  I  do  not  think 
that  he  himself  will  deny  it.  When  a  letter  had  been  brought 
to  Valentius  his  interpreter  from  Agrigentuin,  by  chance  Ver- 
res himself  noticed  the  impression  on  the  seal;  he  was  pleased 
with  it,  he  asked  where  the  letter  came  from  ;  he  was  told, 
from  Agrigentum.  He  sent  letters  to  the  men  with  whom 
he  was  accustomed  to  communicate,  ordering  that  ring  to  be 
brought  to  him  as  soon  as  possible.  And  accordingly,  in  com- 
pliance with  his  letter,  it  was  torn  off  the  finger  of  a  master 
of  a  family,  a  certain  Lucius  Titius,  a  Roman  citizen.  I>ut 
that  covetousness  of  his  is  quite  beyond  belief.      For  as  ho 


AGAINST  VERRES  539 

wished  to  provide  three  hundred  couches  beautifully  covered, 
with  all  other  decorations  for  a  banquet,  for  the  different 
rooms  which  he  has,  not  only  at  Rome,  but  in  his  different 
villas,  he  collected  such  a  number,  that  there  was  no  wealthy 
house  in  all  Sicily  where  he  did  not  set  up  an  embroiderer's 
shop. 

There  is  a  woman,  a  citizen  of  Segesta,  very  rich,  and  -nobly 
born,  by  name  Lamia.  She,  having  her  house  full  of  spinning 
jennies,  for  three  years  was  making  him  robes  and  coverlets, 
all  dyed  with  purple ;  Attalus,  a  rich  man  at  Netum ;  Lyso 
at  Lilybaeum ;  Critolaus  at  Enna ;  at  Syracuse  JEschrio,  Cle- 
omenes,  and  Theomnastus;  at  Elorum  Archonides  and  Alegis- 
tus.  My  voice  will  fail  me  before  the  names  of  the  men  whom 
he  employed  in  this  way  will ;  he  himself  supplied  the  purple 
— his  friends  supplied  only  the  work,  I  dare  say ;  for  I  have 
no  wish  to  accuse  him  in  every  particular,  as  if  it  were  not 
enouo-h  for  me,  with  a  view  to  accuse  him,  that  he  should 
have  had  so  much  to  give,  that  he  should  have  wished  to 
carry  away  so  many  things  ;  and,  besides  all  that,  this  thing 
which  he  admits,  namely,  that  he  should  have  employed  the 
work  of  his  friends  in  affairs  of  this  sort.  But  now  do  you 
suppose  that  brazen  couches  and  brazen  candelabra  were  made 
at  Syracuse  for  any  one  but  for  him  the  whole  of  that  three 
years?  Pie  bought  them,  I  suppose ;  but  I  am  informing  you 
so  fully,  O  judges,  of  what  that  man  did  in  his  province  as 
praetor,  that  he  may  not  by  chance  appear  to  any  one  to  have 
been  careless,  and  not  to  have  provided  and  adorned  himself 
sufficiently  when  he  had  absolute  power. 

XXYII.  I  come  now,  not  to  a  theft,  not  to  avarice,  not  to 
covetousness,  but  to  an  action  of  that  sort  that  every  kind  of 
wickedness  seems  to  be  contained  in  it,  and  to  be  in  it ;  by 
wrhich  the  immortal  gods  were  insulted,  the  reputation  and 
authority  of  the  name  of  the  Roman  people  was  impaired, 
hospitality  was  betrayed  and  plundered,  all  the  kings  who 
were  most  friendly  to  us,  and  the  nations  which  are  under 
their  rule  and  dominion,  were  alienated  from  us  by  his  wick- 
edness. For  you  know  that  the  kings  of  Syria,  the  boyish 
sons  of  King  Antiochus,  have  lately  been  at  Rome.  And 
they  came  not  on  account  of  the  kingdom  of  Syria ;  for  that 
they  had  obtained  possession  of  without  dispute,  as  they  had 
received  it  from  their  father  and-their  ancestors  ;  but  they 
thought  that  the  kingdom  of  Egypt  belonged  to  them  and  to 


540  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

Selene  their  mother.     "When  they,  being  hindered  by  the  crit- 
ical state  of  the  republic  at  that  time,  were  not  able  to  obtain 
the  discussion  of  the  subject  as  they  wished  before  the  senate, 
they  departed  for  Syria,  their  paternal  kingdom.     One  of  them 
— the  one  whose  name  is  Antiochus — wished  to  make  his  jour- 
ney through  Sicily.    And  so,  while  Verres  was  praetor,  he  came 
to  Syracuse.     On  this  Verres  thought  that  an  inheritance  had 
come  to  him,  because  a  man  whom  he  had  heard,  and  on  other 
accounts  suspected  had  many  splendid  things  with  him,  had 
come  into  his  kingdom  and  into  his  power.     He  sends  him 
presents — liberal  enough — for  all  domestic  uses ;  as  much  wine 
and  oil  as  he  thought  fit ;  and  as  much  wheat  as  he  could  want, 
out  of  his  tenths.     After  that  he  invites  the  king  himself  to 
supper.     He  decorates  a  couch  abundantly  and  magnificently. 
He  sets  out  the  numerous  and  beautiful  silver  vessels,  in  which 
he  was  so  rich ;  for  he  had  not  yet  made  all  those  golden  ones. 
He  takes  care  that  the  banquet  shall  be  splendidly  appointed 
and  provided  in  every  particular.     Why  need  I  make  a  long 
story  of  it?      The  king  departed  thinking  that  Verres  was 
superbly  provided  with  every  thing,  and  that  lie  himself  had 
been  magnificently  treated.     After  that,  he  himself  invites  the 
praaetor  to  supper.     He  displays  all  his  treasures;  much  sil- 
ver, also  not  a  few  goblets  of  gold,  which,  as  is  the  custom 
of  kings,  and  especially  in  Syria,  were  studded  all  over  with 
most  splendid  jewels.     There  was  also  a  vessel  for  wine,  a 
ladle  hollowed  out  of  one  single  large  precious  stone,  with  a 
golden  handle,  concerning  which,  I  think,  you  heard  Quint  us 
Minutius  speak,  a  sufficiently  capable  judge,  and  sufficiently 
credible  witness.     Verres  took  each  separate  piece  of  plate 
into  his  hands,  praised  it — admired  it.     The  king  was  delight- 
ed that  that  banquet  was  tolerably  pleasant  and  agreeable  to 
a  praetor  of  the  Roman  people.     After  the  banquet  was  over, 
Verres  thought  of  nothing  else,  as  the  facts  themselves  show- 
ed, than  how  he  might  plunder  and  strip  the  king  of  every 
thing  before  he  departed  from  the  province.     He  sends  to  ask 
for  the  most  exquisite  of  the  vessels  which  he  had  seen  at  An- 
tiochus's  lodgings.     He  said  that  he  wished  to  show  them  to 
his  engravers.     The  king,  who  did  not  know  the  man,  most 
willingly  sent  them,  without  any  suspicion  of  his  intention. 
Me  pends  also  to  borrow  the  jeweled  ladle.      lie  said  that  he 
wished  to  examine  it  more  attentively  ;    that  also  is  sent  to 
him. 


AGAINST  VERRES  541 

XXVIII.  Now,  O  judges,  mark  what  followed;  thinga 
which  you  have  already  heard,  and  which  the  Roman  people 
will  not  hear  now  for  the  first  time,  and  which  have  been 
reported  abroad  among  foreign  nations  to  the  farthest  cor- 
ners of  the  earth.  The  kings,  whom  I  have  spoken  of,  had 
brought  to  Koine  a  candelabrum  of  the  finest  jewels,  made 
with  most  extraordinary  skill,  in  order  to  place  it  in  the  Cap- 
itol ;  but  as  they  found  that  temple  not  yet  finished,  they 
could  not  place  it  there.  Nor  were  they  willing  to  display 
it  and  produce  it  in  common,  in  order  that  it  might  seem 
more  splendid  when  it  was  placed  at  its  proper  time  in  the 
shrine  of  the  great  and  good  Jupiter;  and  brighter,  also,  as 
its  beauty  would  come  fresh  and  untarnished  before  the  eyes  *  ' 
of  men.  They  determined,  therefore,  to  take  it  back  with 
them  into  Syria,  with  the  intention,  when  they  should  hear 
that  the  image  of  the  great  and  good  Jupiter  was  dedicated, 
of  sending  embassadors  who  should  bring  that  exquisite  and 
most  beautiful  present,  with  other  offerings,  to  the  Capitol. 
The  matter,  I  know  not  how,  got  to  his  ears.  For  the  king 
had  wished  it  kept  entirely  concealed ;  not  because  he  feared 
or  suspected  any  thing,  but  because  he  did  not  wish  many  to 
feast  their  eyes  on  it  before  the  Roman  people.  He  begs  the 
king,  and  entreats  him  most  earnestly  to  send  it  to  him  ;  he 
says  that  he  longs  to  look  at  it  himself,  and  that  he  will  not 
allow  any  one  else  to  see  it.  Antiochus,  being  both  of  a  child- 
like and  royal  disposition,  suspected  nothing  of  that  man's 
dishonesty,  and  orders  his  servants  to  take  it  as  secretly  as 
possible,  and  well  wrapped  up,  to  the  praetor's  house.  And 
when  they  brought  it  there,  and  placed  it  on  a  table,  having 
taken  off  the  coverings,  Verres  began  to  exclaim  that  it  was 
a  thing  worthy  of  the  kingdom  of  Syria,  worthy  of  being  a 
royal  present,  worthy  of  the  Capitol.  In  truth,  it  was  of  such 
splendor  as  a  thing  must  be  which  is  made  of  the  most  bril- 
liant and  beautiful  jewels;  of  such  variety  of  pattern  that 
the  skill  of  the  workmanship  seemed  to  vie  with  the  rich- 
ness of  the  materials ;  and  of  such  a  size  that  it  might  easily 
be  seen  that  it  had  been  made  not  for  the  furniture  of  men, 
but  for  the  decoration  of  a  most  noble  temple.  And  when 
he  appeared  to  have  examined  it  sufficiently,  the  servants  be-  di 
gin  to  take  it  up  to  carry  it  back  again.  He  says  that  he 
wishes  to  examine  it  over  and  over  again ;  that  he  is  not  half 
satiated  with  the  sight  of  it ;  he  orders  them  to  depart  and 


542  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

to  leave  the  candelabrum.     So  they  then  return  to  Antiochus 
empty-handed. 

XXIX.  The  king  at  first  feared  nothing,  suspected  nothing. 
One  day  passed — two  days — many  days.  It  was  not  brought 
back.  Then  the  king  sends  to  Verres  to  beg  him  to  return  it, 
if  he  will  be  so  good.  He  bids  the  slaves  come  again.  The 
king  begins  to  think  it  strange.  He  sends  a  second  time.  It 
is  not  returned.  He  himself  calls  on  the  man ;  he  begs  him 
to  restore  it  to  him.  Think  of  the  face  and  marvelous  im- 
pudence of  the  man.  That  thing  which  he  knew,  and  which 
he  had  heard  from  the  king  himself  was  to  be  placed  in  the 
Capitol,  which  he  knew  was  being  kept  for  the  great  and  good 
Jupiter,  and  for  the  Roman  people,  that  he  began  to  ask  and 
entreat  earnestly  to  have  given  to  him.  When  the  king  said 
that  he  was  prevented  from  complying  by  the  reverence  due 
to  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  and  by  his  regard  for  the  opinion  of 
men,  because  many  nations  were  witnesses  to  the  fact  of  the 
candelabrum  having  been  made  for  a  present  to  the  god,  the 
fellow  began  to  threaten  him  most  violently.  When  he  sees 
that  he  is  no  more  influenced  by  threats  than  he  had  been 
by  prayers,  on  a  sudden  he  orders  him  to  leave  his  province 
before  night.  He  says,  that  he  lias  found  out  that  pirates 
from  his  kingdom  were  coming  against  Sicily.  The  king. 
in  the  most  frequented  place  in  Syracuse,  in  the  forum, — 
in  the  forum  at  Syracuse,  I  say  (that  no  man  may  suppose  I 
am  bringing!;  forward  a  charge  about  which  there  is  anv  ob- 
scurity,  or  imagining  any  thing  which  rests  on  mere  suspi- 
cion), weeping,  and  calling  gods  and  men  to  witness,  began  to 
cry  out  that  Caius  Verres  had  taken  from  him  a  candelabrum 
made  of  jewels,  which  he  was  about  to  send  to  the  Capitol, 
and  which  he  wished  to  be  in  that  most  splendid  temple  as 
a  memorial  to  the  Roman  people  of  his  alliance  with  and 
friendship  for  them.  He  said  that  he  did  not  care  about  the 
other  works  made  of  gold  and  jewels  belonging  to  him  which 
were  in  Verres' s  hands,  but  that  it  was  a  miserable  and  scan- 
dalous thing  for  this  to  be  taken  from  him.  And  that,  al- 
though  it  had  long  ago  been  consecrated  in  the  minds  and  in- 
tendons  of  himself  and  his  brother,  still,  that  he  then,  before 
that  assembled  body  of  Roman  citizens,  offered,  and  gave,  and 
dedicated,  and  consecrated  it  to  the  great  and  good  Jupiter, 
and  that  he  invoked  Jupiter  himself  as  a  witness  of  his  inten- 
tion and  of  his  piety. 


AGAINST  VERRES.  543 

XXX.  What  voice,  what  lungs,  what  power  of  mine  can 
adequately  express  the  indignation  due  to  this  atrocity  *     The 
King  Antiochus,  who  had  lived  for  two  years  at  Rome  in  the 
eight  of  all  of  us,  with  an  almost  royal  retinue  and  establish-  * 
ment, — though  he  had  been  the  friend  and  ally  of  the  Roman 
people  ;  though  his  father,  and  his  grandfather,  and  his  an- 
cestors, most  ancient  and  honorable  sovereigns,  had  been  our 
firmest  friends  ;    though  he  himself  is   monarch   of  a  most 
opulent  and  extensive  kingdom,  is  turned  headlong  out  of  a 
province  of  the  Roman  people.      How  do  you  suppose  that 
foreign  nations  will  take  this?     How  do  you  suppose  the  news 
of  this  exploit  of  yours  will  be  received  in  the  dominions  of 
other  kings,  and  in  the  most  distant  countries  of  the  world, 
when  they  hear  that  a  king  has  been  insulted  by  a  praetor  of 
the  Roman  people  in  his  province  ?  that  a  guest  of  the  Eoman 
people  has  been  plundered  1  a  friend  and  ally  of  the  Roman 
people  insultingly  driven  out?     Know  that  your  name  and 
that  of  the  Roman  people  will  be  an  object  of  hatred  and  de- 
testation to  foreign  nations.     If  this  unheard-of  insolence  of 
Verres  is  to  pass  unpunished,  all  men  will  think,  especially  as 
the  reputation  of  our  men  for  avarice  and  covetousness  has 
been  very  extensively  spread,  that  this  is  not  his  crime  only, 
but  that  of  those  who  have  approved  of  it.     Many  kings,  many 
free  cities,  many  opulent  and  powerful  private  men,  cherish 
intentions  of  ornamenting  the  Capitol  in  such  a  way  as  the 
dignity  of  the  temple  and  the  reputation  of  our  empire  re- 
quires.    And  if  they  understand  that  you  show  a  proper  in- 
dignation at  this  kingly  present  being  intercepted,  they  will 
then  think  that  their  zeal  and  their  presents  will  be  accept- 
able to  you  and  to  the  Roman  people.     But  if  they  hear  that 
you  have  been  indifferent  to  the  complaint  of  so  great  a  king, 
in  so  remarkable  a  case,  in  one  of  such  bitter  injustice,  they 
will  not  be  so  crazy  as  to  spend  their  time,  and  labor,  and 
expense  on  things  which  they  do  not  think  will  be  acceptable 
to  you. 

XXXI.  And  in  this  place  I  appeal  to  yon,  O  Quintus 
Catulus  j1  for  I  am  speaking  of  your  most  honorable  and  most 
splendid  monument.  You  ought  to  take  upon  yourself  not 
only  the  severity  of  a  judge  with  respect  to  this  crime,  but 

1  The  Capitol  had  been  burned  in  the  civil  war  between  Marius  and 
Sylla  ;  and  it  was  now  being  restored  under  the  superintendence  oi 
Quintus  Catulus,  to  whom  that  office  had  been  intrusted  by  the  senate 


544  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

something  like  the  vehemence  of  an  enemy  and  an  accuser. 
For,  through  the  kindness  of  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome, 
your  honor  is  connected  with  that  temple.  Your  name  is 
consecrated  at  the  same  time  as  that  temple  in  the  everlast- 
ing recollection  of  men.  It  is  by  you  that  this  case  is  to  be 
encountered ;  by  you,  that  this  labor  is  to  be  undergone,  in 
order  that  the  Capitol,  as  it  has  been  restored  more  magnifi- 
cently, may  also  be  adorned  more  splendidly  than  it  was 
originally  ;  that  then  that  fire  may  seem  to  have  been  sent 
from  heaven  not  to  destroy  the  temple  of  the  great  and  good 
Jupiter,  but  to  demand  one  for  him  more  noble  and  more 
magnificent.  You  have  heard  Quintus  Minucius  Rufus  say, 
that  King  Antiochus  staid  at  his  house  while  at  Syracuse; 
that  he  knew  that  this  candelabrum  had  been  taken  to  Ver- 
res's  house ;  that  he  knew  that  it  had  not  been  returned. 
You  heard,  and  you  shall  hear  from  the  whole  body  of  Roman 
settlers  at  Syracuse,  that  they  will  state  to  you  that  in  their 
hearing  it  was  dedicated  and  consecrated  to  the  good  and  great 
Jupiter  by  King  Antiochus.  If  you  were  not  a  judge,  and 
this  affair  were  reported  to  you,  it  would  be  your  especial 
duty  to  follow  it  up  ;  to  reclaim  the  candelabrum,  and  to  pros- 
ecute this  cause.  So  that  I  do  not  doubt  what  ought  to  be 
your  feelings  as  judge  in  this  prosecution,  when  before  any 
one  else  as  judge  you  ought  to  be  a  much  more  vehement  ad- 
vocate and  accuser  than  I  am. 

XXXII.  And  to  you,  O  judges,  what  can  appear  more 
scandalous  or  more  intolerable  than  this1?  Shall  Yerres  have 
at  his  own  house  a  candelabrum,  made  of  jewels  and  gold, 
belonging  to  the  great  and  good  Jupiter?  Shall  that  orna- 
ment be  set  out  in  his  house  at  banquets  which  will  be  one 
scene  of  adultery  and  debauchery,  with  the  brilliancy  of  which 
the  temple  of  the  great  and  good  Jupiter  ought  to  glow  and 
to  be  lighted  up?  Shall  the  decorations  of  the  Capitol  be 
placed  in  the  house  of  that  most  infamous  debauchee  with 
the  other  ornaments  which  he  has  inherited  from  Chelidon  ? 
"What  do  you  suppose  will  ever  be  considered  sacred  or  holy 
by  him,  when  he  does  not  now  think  himself  liable  to  punish- 
ment for  such  enormous  wickedness?  who  dares  to  come  into 
this  court  of  justice,  where  lie  can  not,  like  all  others  who  are 
arraigned,  pray  to  the  great  and  good  Jupiter,  and  entreat 
help  from  him?  from  whom  even  the  immortal  gods  are  re- 
claiming their  property,  before  that  tribunal  which  was  ap 


AGAINST  VERRES.  54o 

pointed  for  the  benefit  of  men,  that  they  might  recover  what 
had  been  extorted  unjustly  from  them  I  Do  we  marvel  that 
Minerva  at  Athens,  Apollo  at  Delos,  Juno  at  Samos,  Diana 
at  Perga,  and  that  many  other  gods  besides  all  over  Asia  and 
Greece,  were  plundered  by  him,  when  he  could  not  keep  his 
hands  off  the  Capitol  ?  That  temple  which  private  men  are 
decorating  and  are  intending  to  decorate  out  of  their  own 
riches,  that  Caius  Verres  would  not  suffer  to  be  decorated  by 
a  king ;  and,  accordingly,  after  he  had  once  conceived  this  ne- 
farious wickedness,  he  considered  nothing  in  all  Sicilv  after- 
ward  sacred  or  hallowed  ;  and  he  behaved  himself  in  his  prov- 
ince for  three  years  in  such  a  manner  that  war  was  thought 
to  have  been  declared  by  him,  not  only  against  men,  but  also 
against  the  immortal  gods. 

XXXIII.  Segesta  is  a  very  ancient  town  in  Sicily,  O  judges, 
which  its  inhabitants  assert  was  founded  by  ^Eneas  when  he 
was  flying  from  Troy  and  coming  to  this  country.  And  ac- 
cordingly the  Segestans  think  that  they  are  connected  with 
the  Roman  people,  not  only  by  a  perpetual  alliance  and  friend- 
ship, but  even  by  some  relationship.  This  town,  as  the  state 
of  the  Segestans  was  at  war  with  the  Carthaginians  on  its 
own  account  and  of  its  own  accord,  was  formerly  stormed 
and  destroyed  by  the  Carthaginians ;  and  every  thing  which 
could  be  any  ornament  to  the  city  was  transported  from 
thence  to  Carthage.  There  was  among;  the  Segestans  a  stat- 
ue  of  Diana,  of  brass,  not  only  invested  with  the  most  sacred 
character,  but  also  wrought  with  the  most  exquisite  skill  and 
beauty.  "When  transferred  to  Carthage,  it  only  changed  its 
situation  and  its  worshipers ;  it  retained  its  former  sanctity. 
For  on  account  of  its  eminent  beauty  it  seemed,  even  to  their 
enemies,  worthy  of  being  most  religiously  worshiped.  Some 
ages  afterward,  Publius  Scipio  took  Carthage  in  the  third  Pu- 
nic war ;  after  which  victory  (remark  the  virtue  and  careful- 
ness of  the  man,  so  that  you  may  both  rejoice  at  your  na- 
tional examples  of  most  eminent  virtue,  and  may  also  judge 
the  incredible  audacity  of  Yerres,  worthy  of  the  greater  ha- 
tred by  contrasting  it  with  that  virtue),  he  summoned  all 
the  Sicilians,  because  he  knew  that  during  a  long  period  of 
time  Sicily  had  repeatedly  been  ravaged  by  the  Carthagini- 
ans, and  bids  them  seek  for  all  they  had  lost,  and  promises 
them  to  take  the  greatest  pains  to  insure  the  restoration  to 
the  different  cities  of  every  thing  which  had  belonged  to  then*. 


546  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

Then  those  things  which  had  formerly  been  removed  from 
Himera,  and  which  I  have  mentioned  before,  were  restored 
to  the  people  of  Thermae ;  some  things  were  restored  to  the 
Gelans,  some  to  the  Agrigentines ;  among  which  was  that 
noble  bull,  which  that  most  cruel  of  all  tyrants,  Phalaris,  is 
said  to  have  had,  into  which  he  was  accustomed  to  put  men 
for  punishment,  and  to  put  fire  under.  And  when  Scipio  re- 
stored that  bull  to  the  Agrigentines,  he  is  reported  to  have 
said,  that  he  thought  it  reasonable  for  them  to  consider  wheth- 
er it  Avas  more  advantageous  to  the  Sicilians  to  be  subject 
to  their  own  princes,  or  to  be  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Roman  people,  when  they  had  the  same  thing  as  a  monu- 
ment of  the  cruelty  of  their  domestic  masters,  and  of  our  lib- 
erality. 

XXXIV.  At  that  time  the  same  Diana  of  which  I  am 
speaking  is  restored  with  the  greatest  care  to  the  Segestans. 
It  is  taken  back  to  Segesta;  it  is  replaced  in  its  ancient  sit- 
uation, to  the  greatest  joy  and  delight  of  all  the  citizens.  It 
was  placed  at  Segesta  on  a  very  lofty  pedestal,  on  which  was 
cut  in  large  letters  the  name  of  Publius  Africanus ;  and  a 
statement  was  also  engraved  that  "  he  had  restored  it  after 
having  taken  Carthage."  It  was  worshiped  by  the  citizens ; 
it  was  visited  by  all  strangers ;  when  I  was  quaestor  it  was  the 
very  first  thing  they  showed  me.  It  was  a  very  large  and 
tall  statue  with  a  flowing  robe,  but  in  spite  of  its  large  size  it 
gave  the  idea  of  the  age  and  dress  of  a  virgin  ;  her  arrows 
hung  from  her  shoulder,  in  her  left  hand  she  carried  her  bow, 
her  right  hand  held  a  burning  torch.  When  that  enemy  of 
all  sacred  things,  that  violator  of  all  religious  scruples  saw 
it,  he  began  to  burn  with  covetousness  and  insanity,  as  if  he 
himself  had  been  struck  with  that  torch.  He  commands  the 
magistrates  to  take  the  statue  down  and  give  it  to  him  ;  and 
declares  to  them  that  nothing  can  be  more  agreeable*  to  him. 
But  they  said  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  do  so  ;  that 
they  were  prevented  from  doing  so,  not  only  by  the  most  ex- 
treme religious  reverence,  but  also  by  the  greatest  respect  for 
their  own  laws  and  courts  of  justice.  Then  he  began  to  en- 
treat this  favor  of  them,  then  to  threaten  them,  then  to  try 
and  excite  their  hopes,  then  to  arouse  their  fears.  They  op- 
posed to  his  demands  the  name  of  Africanus ;  they  said  that 
it  was  the  gift  of  the  Eoman  people;  that  they  themselves  had 
no  right  over  a  thing  which  a  most  illustrious  general,  having 


AGAINST  VERRES.  547 

taken  a  city  of  the  enemy,  had  chosen  to  stand  there  as  a  mon- 
ument of  the  victory  of  the  Roman  people.  As  he  did  not  re-  ) 
lax  in  his  demand,  but  urged  it  every  day  with  daily  increasing 
earnestness,  the  matter  was  brought  before  their  senate.  His 
demand  raises  a  violent  outcry  on  all  sides.  And  so  at  that 
time,  and  at  his  first  arrival  at  Segesta,  it  is  refused.  After- 
ward, whatever  burdens  could  be  imposed  on  any  city  in  re- 
spect of  exacting  sailors  and  rowers,  or  in  levying  corn,  he  im- 
posed on  the  Segestans  beyond  all  other  cities,  and  a  good  deal 
more  than  they  could  bear.  Besides  that,  he  used  to  summon 
their  magistrates  before  him  ;  he  used  to  send  for  all  the  most 
noble  and  most  virtuous  of  the  citizens,  to  hurry  them  about 
with  him  to  all  the  courts  of  justice  in  the  province,  to  threat- 
en every  one  of  them  separately  to  be  the  ruin  of  him,  and  to 
announce  to  them  all  in  a  body  that  he  would  utterly  destroy 
their  city.  Therefore,  at  last,  the  Segestans,  subdued  by  much 
ill  treatment  and  by  great  fear,  resolved  to  obey  the  command 
of  the  praetor.  With  great  grief  and  lamentation  on  the  part 
of  the  whole  city,  with  many  tears  and  wailings  on  the  part 
of  all  the  men  and  women,  a  contract  is  advertised  for  taking 
down  the  statue  of  Diana. 

XXXV.  See  now  with  what  religious  reverence  it  is  re- 
garded. Know,  O  judges,  that  among  all  the  Segestans  none 
was  found,  whether  free  man  or  slave,  whether  citizen  or  for- 
eigner, to  dare  to  touch  that  statue.  Know  that  some  barba- 
rian  workmen  were  brought  from  Lilybaeum  ;  they  at  length, 
ignorant  of  the  whole  business,  and  of  the  religious  character  - 
of  the  image,  agreed  to  take  it  down  for  a  sum  of  money,  and 
took  it  down.  And  when  it  was  being  taken  out  of  the  city, 
how  o-reat  was  the  concourse  of  women !  how  great  was  the 
weeping  of  the  old  men  !  some  of  whom  even  recollected  that 
day  when  that  same  Diana  being  brought  back  to  Segesta  from 
Carthage,  had  announced  to  them,  by  its  return,  the  victory 
of  the  Roman  people.  How  different  from  that  time  did  this 
day  seem !  then  the  general  of  the  Roman  people,  a  most  illus- 
trious man,  was  bringing  back  to  the  Segestans  the  gods  of 
their  fathers,  recovered  from  an  enemy's  city ;  now  a  most 
base  and  profligate  praetor  of  the  same  Roman  people,  wa3 
taking  away,  with  the  most  nefarious  wickedness,  those  very 
same  gods  from  a  city  of  his  allies.  What  is  more  notorious  y\ 
throughout  all  Sicily  than  that  all  the  matrons  and  virgins  of 
Begesta  came  together  when  Diana  was  being  taken  out  of  their 


548  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

city?  that  they  anointed  her  with  precious  unguents'?  that 
they  crowned  her  with  chaplets  and  flowers'?  that  they  at- 
tended her  to  the  borders  of  their  territory  with  frankincense 
and  burning  perfumes  ?  If  at  the  time  you,  by  reason  of  your 
covetousness  and  audacity,  did  not,  while  in  command,  fear 
these  religious  feelings  of  the  population,  do  you  not  fear  them 
now,  at  a  time  of  such  peril  to  yourself  and  to  your  children? 
What  man,  against  the  will  of  the  immortal  gods,  or  what  god, 
when  you  so  trample  on  all  the  religious  reverence  due  to  them, 
do  you  think  will  come  to  your  assistance  I  Has  that  Diana 
inspired  you,  while  in  quiet  and  at  leisure,  with  no  religious 
awe ; — she,  who  though  she  had  seen  two  cities,  in  which  she 
was  placed,  stormed  and  burned,  was  yet  twice  preserved  from 
the  flames  and  weapons  of  two  wars;  she  who,  though  she 
changed  her  situation  owing  to  the  victory  of  the  Carthagini- 
ans, yet  did  not  lose  her  holy  character ;  and  who,  by  the  val- 
or of  Publius  Africanus,  afterward  recovered  her  old  worship, 
together  with  her  old  situation?  And  when  this  crime  had 
been  executed,  as  the  pedestal  was  empty,  and  the  name  of 
Publius  Africanus  carved  on  it,  the  affair  appeared  scandalous 
and  intolerable  to  every  one,  that  not  only  was  religion  tram- 
pled on,  but  also  that  Caius  Verres  had  taken  away  the  glory 
of  the  exploits,  the  memorial  of  the  virtues,  the  monument  of 
the  victory  of  Publius  Africanus,  that  most  gallant  of  men. 
But  when  he  was  told  afterward  of  the  pedestal  and  the  in- 
scription, he  thought  that  men  would  forget  the  whole  affair, 
if  he  took  away  the  pedestal  too,  which  was  serving  as  a  sort 
of  sign-post  to  point  out  his  crime.  And  so,  by  his  command, 
the  Segestans  contracted  to  take  away  the  pedestal  too;  and 
the  terms  of  that  contract  were  read  to  you  from  the  public 
registers  of  the  Segestans,  at  the  former  pleading. 

XXXYI.  Now,  O  Publius  Scipio,  I  appeal  to  3011 ;  to  you, 
1  say,  a  most  virtuous  and  accomplished  youth ;  from  you  I 
request  and  demand  that  assistance  which  is  due  to  your  fam- 
ily and  to  your  name.  Why  do  you  take 'the  part  of  that  man 
who  has  embezzled  the  credit  and  honor  of  your  family  ?  Why 
do  3'ou  wish  him  to  be  defended?  Why  am  I  undertaking 
what  is  properly  your  business?  Why  am  I  supporting  a  bur- 
den which  ought  to  fall  on  you? — Marcus  Tullius  is  reclaim- 
ing the  monuments  of  Publius  Africanus ;  Publius  Scipio  is 
defending  the  man  who  took  them  away.  Though  it  is  a  prin- 
ciple handed  down  to  us  from  our  ancestors,  for  every  one  to 


AGAINST  VERRES.  549 

defend  the  monuments  of  his  ancestors,  in  such  a  way  as  not 
even  to  allow  them  to  be  decorated  by  one  of  another  name, 
will  you  take  the  part  of  that  man  who  is  not  charged  merely 
with  having  in  some  degree  spoiled  the  view  of  the  monuments 
of  Publius  Scipio,  but  who  has  entirely  removed  and  destroyed 
them?  Who  then,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal  gods,  will  de- 
fend the  memory  of  Publius  Scipio  now  that  he  is  dead  ?  who 
will  defend  the  memorials  and  evidences  of  his  valor,  if  you 
desert  and  abandon  them ;  and  not  only  allow  them  to  be 
plundered  and  taken  away,  but  even  defend  their  plunderer 
and  destroyer?  The  Segestans  are  present,  your  clients,  the 
allies  and  friends  of  the  Roman  people.  They  inform  you  that 
Publrus  Africanus,  when  he  had  destroyed  Carthage,  restored 
tne  image  of  Diana  to  their  ancestors ;  and  that  was  set  up 
among  the  Segestans  and  dedicated  in  the  name  of  that  gen- 
eral ; — that  Verres  has  had  it  taken  down  and  carried  away, 
and  as  far  as  that  is  concerned,  has  utterly  effaced  and  extin- 
guished the  name  of  Publius  Scipio.  They  entreat  and  pray 
you  to  restore  the  object  of  their  worship  to  them,  its  proper 
credit  and  glory  to  your  own  family,  so  enabling  them  by  your 
assistance  to  recover  from  the  house  of  a  robber,  what  they  re- 
covered from  the  city  of  their  enemies  by  the  beneficence  of 
Publius  Africanus. 

XXXVII.  What  can  you  reply  to  them  with  honor,  or 
what  can  they  do  but  implore  the  aid  of  you  and  your  good 
faith?  They  are  present,  they  do  implore  it.  You,  O  Pub- 
lius, can  protect  the  honor  of  your  family  renown  ;  you  can, 
you  have  every  advantage  which  either  fortune  or  nature  ever 
gives  to  men.  I  do  not  wish  to  anticipate  you  in  gathering 
the  fruit  that  belongs  to  you  ;  I  am  not  covetous  of  the  glory 
which  ought  to  belong  to  another.  It  does  not  correspond  to 
the  modesty  of  my  disposition,  while  Publius  Scipio,  a  most 
promising  young  man,  is  alive  and  well,  to  pnt  myself  forward 
as  the  defender  and  advocate  of  the  memorials  of  Publius  Scip- 
io. Wherefore,  if  you  will  undertake  the  advocacy  of  your 
family  renown,  it  will  behoove  me  not  only  to  be  silent  about 
your  monuments,  but  even  to  be  glad  that  the  fortune  of  Pub- 
lius Africanus,  though  dead,  is  such,  that  his  honor  is  defend- 
ed by  those  who  are  of  the  same  family  as  himself,  and  that  it 
requires  no  adventitious  assistance.  But  if  your  friendship 
with  that  man  is  an  obstacle  to  you, — if  you  think  that  this 
thing  which  I  demand  of  you  is  not  so  intimately  connected 


550  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

with  your  duty, — then  I,  as  your  locum,  towns,  will  nrceed  to 
your  oince,  I  will  undertake  that  business  which  1  have  thought 
not  to  belong  to  me.  Let  that  proud  aristocracy  give  up  com- 
plaining that  the  Roman  people  willingly  gives,  and  at  all 
times  has  given,  honors  to  new  and  diligent  men.  It  is  a 
foolish  complaint  that  virtue  should  be  of  the  greatest  influ- 
ence in  that  city  which  by  its  virtue  governs  all  nations.  Let 
the  image  of  Publius  Africanus  be  in  the  houses  of  other  men  ; 
let  heroes  now  dead  be  adorned  with  virtue  and  glory.  He 
was  such  a  man,  he  deserved  so  well  of  the  Roman  people, 
that  he  deserves  to  be  recommended  to  the  affection,  not  of 
one  single  family,  but  of  the  whole  state.  And  so  it  partly 
does  belong  to  me  also  to  defend  his  honors  with  all  my  pow- 
er, because  I  belong  to  that  city  which  he  rendered  great,  and 
illustrious,  and  renowned;  and  especially,  because  I  practice, 
to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  those  virtues  in  which  he  was  pre- 
eminent,— equity,  industry,  temperance,  the  protection  of  the 
unhappy,  and  hatred  of  the  dishonest ;  a  relationship  in  pur- 
suits and  habits  which  is  almost  as  important  as  that  of  which 
you  boast,  the  relationship  of  name  and  family. 

XXXVIII.  I  reclaim  from  you,  O  Verres,  the  monument 
of  Publius  Africanus ;  I  abandon  the  cause  of  the  Sicilians, 
which  I  undertook ;  let  there  be  no  trial  of  you  for  extortion 
at  present ;  never  mind  the  injuries  of  the  Segestans ;  let  the 
pedestal  of  Publius  Africanus  be  restored  ;  let  the  name  of  that 
invincible  commander  be  engraved  on  it  anew ;  let  that  most 
beautiful  statue,  which  was  recovered  when  Carthage  was 
taken,  be  replaced.  It  is  not  I,  the  defender  of  the  Sicilians, 
— it  is  not  I,  your  prosecutor, — they  are  not  the  Segestans  who 
demand  this  of  you  ;  but  he  who  has  taken  on  himself  the  de- 
fense and  the  preservation  of  the  renown  and  glory  of  Publius 
Africanus.  I  am  not  afraid  of  not  being  able  to  give  a  good 
account  of  my  performance  of  this  duty  to  Publius  Servilius 
the  judge  ;  who,  as  he  has  performed  great  exploits,  and  raised 
very  many  monuments  of  his  good  deeds,  and  has  a  natural 
anxiety  about  them,  will  be  glad,  forsooth,  to  leave  them  an 
object  of  care  and  protection  not  only  to  his  own  posterity,  but 
to  all  brave  men  and  good  citizens  ;  and  not  as  a  mark  for  the 
plunder  of  rogues.  I  am  not  afraid  of  its  displeasing  you,  O 
Quintus  Catulus,  to  whom  the  most  superb  and  splendid  mon- 
ument in  the  whole  world  belongs,  that  tlieiv  should  be  as 
many  guardians  of  such  monuments  as  possible,  or  that  all 


AGAINST  VERRES.  551 

good  men  should  think  it  was  a  part  of  their  duty  to  defend 
the  glory  of  another.  And  indeed  I  am  so  far  moved  by  the 
other  robberies  and  atrocities  of  that  fellow,  as  to  think  them 
worthy  of  great  reproof;  but  that  might  be  sufficient  for  them. 
But  in  this  instance  I  am  roused  to  such  indignation,  that  no- 
thing appears  to  me  possible  to  be  more  scandalous  or  more 
intolerable.  Shall  Vcrres  adorn  his  house,  full  of  adultery, 
full  of  debauchery,  full  of  infamy,  with  the  monuments  of  Af  • 
ricanus  *?  Shall  Verres  place  the  memorial  of  that  most  tem- 
perate and  religious  man,  the  image  of  the  ever  virgin  Diana, 
in  that  house  in  which  the  iniquities  of  harlots  and  pimps  are 
incessantly  being  practiced  1 

XXXIX.  But  is  this  the  only  monument  of  Africanus 
which  you  have  violated  ?  What !  did  you  take  away  from 
the  people  of  Tyndaris  an  image  of  Mercury  most  beautifully 
made,  and  placed  there  by  the  beneficence  of  the  same  Scipio  1 
And  how  1  O  ye  immortal  gods !  How  audaciously,  how 
infamously,  how  shamelessly  did  you  do  so  !  You  have  lately, 
O  judges,  heard  the  deputies  from  Tyndaris,  most  honorable 
men,  and  the  chief  men  of  that  city,  say  that  the  Mercury, 
which  in  their  sacred  anniversaries  was  worshiped  among 
them  with  the  extremest  religious  reverence,  which  Publius 
Africanus,  after  he  had  taken  Carthage,  had  given  to  the 
Tyndaritans,  not  only  as  a  monument  of  his  victory,  but  as  a 
memorial  and  evidence  of  their  loyalty  to  and  alliance  with 
the  Roman  people,  had  been  taken  away  by  the  violence,  and 
wickedness,  and  arbitrary  power  of  this  man ;  who,  when 
he  first  came  to  their  city,  in  a  moment,  as  if  it  were  not 
only  a  becoming,  but  an  indispensable  thing  to  be  done, — 
as  if  the  senate  had  ordered  it  and  the  Roman  people  had 
sanctioned  it, — in  a  moment,  I  say,  ordered  them  to  take 
the  statue  down  and  to  transport  it  to  Messana.  And  as  this 
appeared  a  scandalous  thing  to  those  who  were  present  and 
who  heard  it,  it  was  not  persevered  in  by  him  during  the  first 
period  of  his  visit ;  but  when  he  departed,  he  ordered  Sopater, 
their  chief  magistrate,  whose  statement  you  have  heard,  to  take 
it  down.  When  he  refused,  he  threatened  him  violently ;  and 
then  he  left  the  city.  The  magistrate  refers  the  matter  to 
the  senate  ;  there  is  a  violent  outcry  on  all  sides.  To  make 
my  story  short,  some  time  afterward  he  comes  to  that  city 
again.  Immediately  he  asks  about  the  statue.  He  is  answer- 
ed that  the  senate  will  not  allow  it  to  be  removed  ;  that  capi- 


552  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

tal  punishment  is  threatened  to  any  one  who  should  touch  it 
without  the  orders  of  the  senate  :  the  impiety  of  removing  is 
also  urged.  Then  says  he,  "What  do  you  mean  by  talking 
to  me  of  impiety?  or  about  punishment?  or  about  the  senate"? 
I  will  not  leave  you  alive ;  you  shall  be  scourged  to  death  if 
the  statue  is  not  given  up."  Sopater  with  tears  reports  the 
matter  to  the  senate  a  second  time,  and  relates  to  them  the 
covetousness  and  the  threats  of  Verres.  The  senate  gives  So- 
pater no  answer,  but  breaks  up  in  agitation  and  perplexity. 
Sopater,  being  summoned  by  the  pra3tor's  messenger,  informs 
him  of  the  state  of  the  case,  and  says  that  it  is  absolutely  im- 
possible. 

XL.  And  all  these  things  (for  I  do  not  think  that  I  ought 
to  omit  any  particular  of  his  impudence)  were  done  openly 
in  the  middle  of  the  assembly,  while  Verres  was  sitting  on  his 
chair  of  office,  in  a  lofty  situation.  It  was  the  depth  of  win- 
ter ;  the  weather,  as  you  heard  Sopater  himself  state,  was 
bitterly  cold ;  heavy  rain  was  falling ;  when  that  fellow  or- 
ders the  lictors  to  throw  Sopater  headlong  down  from  the 
portico  on  which  he  himself  was  sitting,  and  to  strip  him 
naked.  The  command  was  scarcely  out  of  his  mouth,  before 
you  might  have  seen  him  stripped  and  surrounded  by  the 
lictors.  All  thought  that  the  unhappy  and  innocent  man 
was  going  to  be  scourged.  They  were  mistaken.  Do  you 
think  that  Verres  would  scourge  without  any  reason  an  ally 
and  friend  of  the  Roman  people  %  He  is  not  so  wicked.  All 
vices  are  not  to  be  found  in  that  man ;  he  was  never  cruel. 
He  treated  the  man  with  great  gentleness  and  clemency.  In 
the  middle  of  the  forum  there  are  some  statues  of  the  Mar- 
celli,  as  there  are  in  most  of  the  other  towns  of  Sicily  ;  out  of 
these  he  selected  the  statue  of  Caius  Marcellus,  whose  serviees 
to  that  city  and  to  the  whole  province  were  most  recent  and 
most  important.  On  that  statue  he  orders  Sopater,  a  man  of 
noble  birth  in  his  city,  and  at  that  very  time  invested  with 
(he  chief  magistracy,  to  be  placed  astride  and  bound  to  it. 
What  torture  he  suffered  when  he  was  bound  naked  in  the 
open  air,  in  the  rain  and  in  the  cold,  must  be  manifest  to 
every  body.  Nor  did  he  put  an  end  to  this  insult  and  bar- 
barity, till  the  people  and  the  whole  multitude,  moved  by  the 
atrocity  of  his  conduct  and  by  pity  for  his  victim,  compelled 
t lie  senate  by  their  outcries  to  promise  him  that  statue  of 
Mercury.     They  cried X>ut  that  the  immortal  gods  themselves 


AGAINST  VERRES.  555 

would  avenge  the  act,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  it  was  not 
fit  that  an  innocent  man  should  be  murdered.  Then  the 
senate  comes  to  him  in  a  body,  and  promises  him  the  statue. 
And  so  Sopater  is  taken  down  scarcely  alive  from  the  statua 
of  Marcellus,  to  which  he  had  almost  become  frozen.  I  can 
not  adequately  accuse  that  man  if  I  were  to  wish  to  do  so ; 
it  requires  not  only  genius,  but  an  extraordinary  amount  of 
skill. 

XLI.  This  appears  to  be  a  single  crime,  this  of  the  Tynda- 
ritan  Mercury,  and  it  is  brought  forward  by  me  as  a  single 
one  ;  but  there  are  many  crimes  contained  in  it — only  I  do 
not  know  how  to  separate  and  distinguish  them.     It  is  a  case 
of  money  extorted,  for  he  took  away  from  the  allies  a  statue 
worth  a  large  sum  of  money.     It  is  a  case  of  embezzlement, 
because  he  did  not  hesitate  to  appropriate  a  public  statue  be- 
longing to  the  Eoman  people,  taken  from  the  spoils  of  the 
enemy,  placed  where  it  was  in  the  name  of  our  general.    It  is 
a  case  of  treason,  because  he  dared  to  overturn  and  to  carry 
away  monuments  of  our  empire,  of  our  glory,  and  of  our  ex- 
ploits.    It  is  a  case  of  impiety,  because  he  violated  the  most 
solemn  principles  of  religion.     It  is  a  case  of  inhumanity,  be- 
cause he  invented  a  new  and  extraordinary  description  of  pun- 
ishment for  an  innocent  man,  an  ally  and  friend  of  our  nation. 
But  what  the  other  crime  is,  that  I  am  unable  to  say  ;  I  know 
not  by  what  name  to  call  the  crime  which  he  committed  with 
respect  to  the  statue  of  Caius  Marcellus.    What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  it  ?     Is  it  because  he  was  the  patron  of  the  Sicilians  ? 
What  then  !    What  has  that  to  do  with  it !     Ought  that  fact 
to   have  had  influence   to    procure    assistance,   or    to    bring 
disaster  on  his  clients  and  friends  ?     Was  it  your  object  to 
show  that  patrons  were  no  protection  against  your  violence  % 
Who  is  there  who  would  not  be  aware  that  there  is  greater 
power  in  the  authority  of  a  bad  man  who  is  present,  than 
the  protection  of  good  men  who  are  absent  %      Or  do  you 
merely  wish  to  prove  by  this  conduct,  your  unprecedented  in- 
solence, and  pride,  and  obstinacy?     You  thought,  I  imagine, 
that  you  were  taking  something  from  the  dignity  of  the  Mar- 
celli1?     And  therefore  now  the  Marcelli  are  not  the  patrons 
of  the  Sicilians.     Verres  has  been  substituted  in  their  place. 
What  virtue  or  what  dignity  did  you  think  existed  in  you, 
that  you  should  attempt  to  transfer  to  yourself,  and  to  take 
awav  from  these  most  trusty  and  most  ancient  patrons,  so  illus- 

Aa 


554  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

trious  a  body  of  clients  as  that  splendid  province?  Can  yea 
with  your  stupidity,  and  worthlessness,  and  laziness  defend  the 
cause,  I  will  not  say  of  all  Sicily,  but  even  of  one,  the  very 
meanest  of  the  Sicilians?  Was  the  statue  of  Marcellus  to 
Berve  you  for  a  pillory  for  the  clients  of  the  Marcelli?  Did 
you  out  of  his  honor  seek  for  punishments  for  those  very 
men  who  had  held  him  in  honor?  What  foliowed?  What 
did  you  think  would  happen  to  your  statues?  was  it  that 
which  did  happen?  For  the  people  of  Tyndaris  threw  down 
the  statue  of  Verres,  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  erected  in 
his  own  honor  near  the  Marcelli,  and  even  on  a  higher  pedes- 
tal, the  very  moment  that  they  heard  that  a  successor  had  been 
appointed  to  him. 

XLII.  The  fortune  of  the  Sicilians  has  then  given  you 
Caius  Marcellus  for  a  judge,  so  that  we  may  now  surrender 
you,  fettered  and  bound,  to  appease  the  injured  sanctity  of 
him  to  whose  statue  Sicilians  were  bound  while  you  were 
praetor.  And  in  the  first  place,  O  judges,  that  man  said  that 
the  people  of  Tyndaris  had  sold  this  statue  to  Caius  Mar- 
cellus .iEserninus,  who  is  here  present.  And  he  hoped  that 
Caius  Marcellus  himself  would  assert  thus  much  for  his  sake, 
though  it  never  seemed  to  me  to  be  very  likely  that  a  voting 
man  born  in  that  rank,  the  patron  of  Sicily,  would  lend  his 
name  to  that  fellow  to  enable  him  to  transfer  his  guilt  to  an- 
other. But  still  I  made  such  provision,  and  took  such  precau- 
tion against  every  possible  bearing  of  the  case,  that  if  any  one 
had  been  found  who  was  ever  so  anxious  to  take  the  guilt  and 
crime  of  Verres  upon  himself,  still  he  would  not  have  taken 
any  thing  by  his  motion,  for  I  brought  down  to  court  such 
witnesses,  and  I  had  with  me  such  written  documents,  that 
it  could  not  have  been  possible  to  have  entertained  a  doubt 
about  that  man's  actions.  There  are  public  documents  to 
prove  that  that  Mercury  was  transported  to  Mcssana  at  the 
expense  of  the  state.  They  state  at  what  expense  ;  and  that 
a  man  named  Poleas  was  ordered  by  the  public  authority  to 
superintend  the  business — what  more  would  you  have  ? 
Where  is  he?  He  is  close  at  hand,  he  is  a  witness,  by  the 
command  of  Sopater  the  Proagorus. — Who  is  he?  The  man 
who  was  bound  to  the  statue.  What !  where  is  he  ?  He  is 
a  witness — you  have  seen  the  man,  and  you  have  heard  his 
statement.  Demetrius,  the  master  of  the  gymnastic  school, 
superintended  the  pulling  down  of  the  statue,  because  he  was 


AGAINST  VERRES.  55o 

appointed  to  manage  that  business.  What  ?  is  it  we  who  say 
this?  No,  he  is  present  himself;  moreover,  that  Verres  him- 
self lately  promised  at  Rome,  that  he  would  restore  that  stat- 
ue to  the  deputies,  if  the  evidence  already  given  in  the  affair 
were  removed,  and  if  security  were  given  that  the  Tyndari- 
tans  would  not  give  evidence  against  him,  has  been  stated  be- 
fore you  by  Zosippus  and  Hismenias,  most  noble  men,  and  the 
chief  men  of  the  city  of  Tyndaris. 

XLIII.  What  1  did  you  not  also  at  Agrigentum  take  away 
a  monument  of  the  same  Publius  Scipio,  a  most  beautiful 
statue  of  Apollo,  on  whose  thigh  there  was  the  name  of  Myron, 
inscribed  in  diminutive  silver  letters,  out  of  that  most  holy 
temple  of  .ZEsculapius  ?  And  when,  O  judges,  he  had  privily 
committed  that  atrocity,  and  when  in  that  most  nefarious 
crime  and  robbery  he  had  employed  some  of  the  most  worth- 
less men  of  the  city  as  his  guides  and  assistants,  the  whole  city 
was  greatly  excited.  For  the  Agrigentines  were  regretting  at 
the  same  time  the  kindness  of  Africanus,  and  a  national  object 
of  their  worship,  and  an  ornament  of  their  city,  and  a  record 
of  their  victory,  and  an  evidence  of  their  alliance  with  us. 
And  therefore  a  command  is  imposed  on  those  men  who  were 
the  chief  men  of  the  city,  and  a  charge  is  given  to  the  quaes- 
tors and  asdiles  to  keep  watch  by  night  over  the  sacred  edifices. 
And,  indeed,  at  Agrigentum  (I  imagine,  on  account  of  the 
great  number  and  virtue  of  these  men,  and  because  great 
numbers  of  Roman  citizens,  gallant  and  intrepid  and  honorable 
men,  live  and  trade  in  that  town  among  the  Agrigentines  in 
the  greatest  harmony)  he  did  not  dare  openly  to  carry  off,  or 
even  to  beg  for  the  things  that  took  his  fancv.  There  is  a 
temple  of  Hercules  at  Agrigentum,  not  far  from  the  forum, 
considered  very  holy  and  greatly  reverenced  among  the  citi- 
zens. In  it  there  is  a  brazen  image  of  Hercules  himself,  than 
which  I  can  not  easily  tell  where  I  have  seen  any  thing  finer 
(although  I  am  not  very  much  of  a  judge  of  those  matters, 
though  I  have  seen  plenty  of  specimens) ;  so  greatly  venerated 
among  them,  O  judges,  that  his  mouth  and  his  chin  are  a 
little  worn  away,  because  men  in  addressing  their  prayers  and 
congratulations  to  him,  are  accustomed  not  only  to  worship 
the  statue,  but  even  to  kiss  it.  AVhile  Verres  was  at  Agrigen- 
turn,  on  a  sudden,  one  stormy  night,  a  great  assemblage  of 
armed  slaves,  and  a  great  attack  on  this  temple  by  them,  takes 
place,  under  the  leading  of  Timarchides.    A  cry  is  raised  bv  the 


11 


556  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

watchmen  and  guardians  of  the  temple.  And,  at  first,  when 
they  attempted  to  resist  them  and  to  defend  the  temple,  they 
are  driven  back  much  injured  with  sticks  and  bludgeons. 
Afterward,  when  the  bolts  were  forced  open,  and  the  doors 
dashed  in,  they  endeavor  to  pull  down  the  statue  and  to  over- 
throw it  with  levers  ;  meantime,  from  the  outcries  of  the  keep- 
ers, a  report  got  abroad  over  the  whole  city,  that  the  national 
gods  were  being  stormed,  not  by  the  unexpected  invasion  of 
enemies,  or  by  the  sudden  irruption  of  pirates,  but  that  a  well- 
armed  and  fully-equipped  band  of  fugitive  slaves  from  the 
house  and  retinue  of  the  prsetor  had  attacked  them.  No  one 
in  Afirri^entum  was  either  so  advanced  in  age,  or  so  infirm  in 
strength,  as  not  to  rise  up  on  that  night,  awakened  by  that 
news,  and  to  seize  whatever  weapon  chance  put  into  his  hands. 
So  in  a  very  short  time  men  are  assembled  at  the  temple  from 
every  part  of  the  city.  Already,  for  more  than  an  hour,  num- 
bers of  men  had  been  laboring  at  pulling  down  that  statue ; 
and  all  that  time  it  gave  no  sign  of  being  shaken  in  any  part ; 
while  some,  putting  levers  under  it,  were  endeavoring  to  throw 
it  down,  and  others,  having  bound  cords  to  all  its  limbs,  were 
trying  to  pull  it  toward  them.  On  a  sudden  all  the  Agrigen- 
tines  collect  together  at  the  place  ;  stones  are  thrown  in  num- 
bers ;  the  nocturnal  soldiers  of  that  illustrious  commander  run 
away — but  they  take  with  them  two  very  small  statues,  in 
order  not  to  return  to  that  robber  of  all  holy  things  entirely 
empty-handed.  The  Sicilians  are  never  in  such  distress  as 
not  to  be  able  to  say  something  facetious  and  neat ;  as  they 
did  on  this  occasion.  And  so  they  said  that  this  enormous 
boar  had  a  right  to  be  accounted  one  of  the  labors  of  Her- 
cules, no  less  than  the  other  boar  of  Ervmanthus. 

XLIV.  The  people  of  Assorum,  gallant  and  loyal  men, 
afterward  imitated  this  brave  conduct  of  the  Agrigentines, 
though  they  did  not  come  of  so  powerful  or  so  distinguished 
a  city.  There  is  a  river  called  Chrysas,  which  flows  through 
the  territories  of  Assorum.  Chrysas,  among  that  people,  is 
considered  a  god,  and  is  worshiped  with  the  greatest  rever- 
ence. His  temple  is  in  the  fields,  near  the  road  which  goes 
from  Assorum  to  Enna.  In  it  there  is  an  image  of  Chrysas, 
exquisitely  made  of  marble.  He  did  not  dare  to  beg  that  of 
the  Assorians  on  account  of  the  extraordinary  sanctity  of  that 
temple;  so  he  intrusts  the  business  to  Tlepohinus  and  Hiero. 
They,  having  prepared' and  armed  a  body  of  men,  come  by 


AGAINST  YERRES.  05  I 

night ;  they  break  in  the  doors  of  the  temple  ;  tho  keepers  of 
the  temple  and  the  guardians  hear  them  in  time.  A  trumpet, 
the  signal  of  alarm  well  known  to  all  the  neighborhood,  is 
sounded ;  men  come  in  from  the  country.  Tlepolemus  is 
turned  out  and  put  to  flight ;  nor  was  any  thing  missed  out  of 
the  temple  of  Chrysas  except  one  very  diminutive  image  of 
brass.  There  is  a  temple  of  the  mighty  mother  Cybele  at 
Enguinum,  for  I  must  now  not  only  mention  each  instance 
with  the  greatest  brevity,  but  I  must  even  pass  over  a  great 
many,  in  order  to  come  to  the  greater  and  more  remarkable 
thefts  and  atrocities  of  this  sort  which  this  man  has  commit- 
ted. In  this  temple  that  same  Publius  Scipio,  a  man  excel- 
ling in  every  possible  good  quality,  had  placed  breast -plateg 
and  helmets  of  brass  of  Corinthian  workmanship,  and  some 
huge  ewers  of  a  similar  description,  and  wrought  with  the 
same  exquisite  skill,  and  had  inscribed  his  own  name  upon 
them.  "Why  should  I  make  any  more  statements  or  utter  any 
farther  complaints  about  that  man's  conduct  ?  He  took 
away,  O  judges,  every  one  of  those  things.  He  left  nothing 
in  that  most  holy  temple  except  the  traces  of  the  religion  he 
had  trampled  on,  and  the  name  of  Publius  Scipio.  The  spoils 
won  from  the  enemy,  the  memorials  of  our  commanders,  the 
ornaments  and  decorations  of  our  temples,  will  hereafter,  when 
these  illustrious  names  are  lost,  be  reckoned  in  the  furniture 
and  appointments  of  Caius  Verres.  Are  you,  forsooth,  the 
only  man  who  delights  in  Corinthian  vases?  Are  you  the 
best  judge  in  the  world  of  the  mixture  of  that  celebrated 
bronze,  and  of  the  delicate  tracery  of  that  work l?  Did  not 
the  great  Scipio,  that  most  learned  and  accomplished  man, 
understand  it  too?  But  do  you,  a  man  without  one  single 
virtue,  without  education,  without  natural  ability,  and  withoui 
any  information,  understand  them  and  value  them  )  Beware 
lest  he  be  seen  to  have  surpassed  you  and  those  other  men 
who  wished  to  be  thought  so  elegant,  not  only  in  temperance, 
but  in  judgment  and  taste ;  for  it  was  because  he  thoroughly 
understood  how  beautiful  they  were,  that  he  thought  that 
they  were  made  not  for  the  luxury  of  men,  but  for  the  orna- 
menting of  temples  and  cities,  in  order  that  they  night  appear 
to  our  posterity  to  be  holy  and  sacred  monuinem.-. 

XLV.  Listen,  also,  O  judges,  to  the  man's  singular  covet- 
ousness,  audacity  and  madness,  especially  in  polluting  those 
sacred  things,  which  not  only  may  not  be  touched  with  the 


558  CICERO'S  ORAl.ONS. 

hands,  but  which  may  not  be  violated  even  in  thought.  There 
is  a  shrine  of  Ceres  among  the  Catenans  of  the  same  holy 
nature  as  the  one  at  Rome,  and  worshiped  as  the  goddess  is 
worshiped  among  foreign  nations,  and  in  almost  every  coun- 
try in  the  world.  In  the  inmost  part  of  that  shrine  there 
was  an  extremely  ancient  statue  of  Ceres,  as  to  which  men 
were  not  only  ignorant  of  what  sort  it  was,  but  even  of  its 
existence.  For  the  entrance  into  that  shrine  docs  not  belong 
to  men,  the  sacred  ceremonies  are  accustomed  to  be  performed 
by  women  and  virgins.  Verres's  slaves  stole  this  statue  by 
night  out  of  that  most  holy  and  most  ancient  temple.  The 
next  day  the  priestesses  of  Ceres,  and  the  female  attendants 
of  that  temple,  women  of  great  age,  noble,  and  of  proved  vir- 
tue, report  the  affair  to  their  magistrates.  It  appeared  to  all 
a  most  bitter,  and  scandalous,  and  miserable  business.  Then 
that  man,  influenced  by  the  atrocity  of  the  action,  in  order 
that  all  suspicion  of  that  crime  might  be  removed  from  him- 
self, employs  some  one  connected  with  him  by  ties  of  hospi- 
tality to  find  a  man  that  he  might  accuse  of  having  done  it, 
and  bids  him  take  care  that  he  be  convicted  of  the  accusation, 
so  that  he  himself  might  not  be  subject  to  the  charge.  The 
matter  is  not  delayed.  For  when  he  had  departed  from  Cati- 
na,  an  information  is  laid  against  a  certain  slave.  He  is  ac- 
cused ;  false  witnesses  are  suborned  against  him ;  the  whole 
senate  sits  in  judgment  on  the  affair,  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  Catenans.  The  priestesses  are  summoned  ;  they  are  ex- 
amined secretly  in  the  senate-house,  and  asked  what  had  been 
done,  and  how  they  thought  that  the  statue  had  been  carried 
off.  They  answered  that  the  servants  of  the  prastor  had  been 
seen  in  the  temple.  The  matter,  which  previously  had  not 
been  very  obscure,  began  to  be  clear  enough  by  the  evidence 
of  the  priestesses.  The  judges  deliberate  ;  the  innocent  slave 
is  acquitted  by  every  vote,  in  order  that  you  may  the  more 
easily  be  able  to  condemn  this  man  by  all  your  votes.  For 
what  is  it  that  you  ask,  O  Verres  ?  What  do  you  hope  for  ? 
What  do  you  expect?  What  god  or  man  do  you  think  will 
come  to  your  assistance  ?  Did  you  send  slaves  to  that  place 
to  plunder  a  temple,  where  it  was  not  lawful  for  free  citizens 
to  go,  not  even  for  the  purpose  of  praying  !  Did  you  not  hes- 
jtate  to  lay  violent  hands  on  those  things  from  which  the  laws 
of  religion  enjoined  you  to  keep  even  your  eyes?  Although 
it  was  not  even  because  you  were  charmed  by  the  eye  that 


AGAINST  VERRES.  559 

you  were  led  into  this  wicked  and  nefarious  conduct ;  for  you 
coveted  what  you  had  never  seen.  You  took  a  violent  fancy, 
I  say,  to  that  which  you  had  not  previously  beheld.  From 
your  ears  did  you  conceive  this  covetousness,  so  violent  that 
no  fear,  no  religious  scruple,  no  power  of  the  god?,  no  regard 
for  the  opinion  of  men  could  restrain  it.  Oh  !  but  you  had 
heard  of  it,  I  suppose,  from  some  good  man,  from  some  good 
authority.  How  could  you  have  done  that,  when  you  could 
never  have  heard  of  it  from  any  man  at  all  ?  You  heard  of  it, 
therefore,  from  a  woman ;  since  men  could  not  have  seen  it, 
nor  known  of  it.  What  sort  of  woman  do  you  think  that  she 
must  have  been,  O  judges'?  What  a  modest  woman  must  she 
have  been  to  converse  with  Verres  !  What  a  pious  woman, 
to  show  him  a  plan  for  robbing  a  temple  !  But  it  is  no  great 
wonder  if  those  sacred  ceremonies  which  are  performed  by  the 
most  extreme  chastity  of  virgins  and  matrons  were  violated  by 
his  adultery  and  profligacy. 

XL VI.  What,  then,  are  we  to  think  ?  Is  this  the  only 
thin"-  that  he  began  to  desire  from  mere  hearing,  when  he  had 
never  seen  it  himself?  No,  there  were  many  other  things  be- 
sides ;  of  which  I  will  select  the  plundering  of  that  most  no- 
ble and  ancient  temple,  concerning  which  you  heard  witnesses 
give  their  evidence  at  the  former  pleading.  Now,  I  beseech 
you,  listen  to  the  same  story  once  more,  and  attend  carefully 
as  you  hitherto  have  done.  There  is  an  island  called  Melita, 
O  judges,  separated  from  Sicily  by  a  sufficiently  wide  and  per- 
ilous navigation,  in  which  there  is  a  town  of  the  same  name, 
to  which  Verres  never  went,  though  it  was  for  three  years  a 
manufactory  to  him  for  weaving  women's  garments.  Not  far 
from  that  town,  on  a  promontory,  is  an  ancient  temple  of 
Juno,  which  was  always  considered  so  holy,  that  it  was  not 
only  always  kept  inviolate  and  sacred  in  those  Punic  wars, 
which  in  those  regions  were  carried  on  almost  wholly  by  the 
naval  forces,  but  even  by  the  bands  of  pirates  which  ravage 
those  seas.  Moreover,  it  has  been  handed  down  to  us  by  tra- 
dition, that  once,  when  the  fleet  of  King  Masinissa  was  forced 
to  put  into  these  ports,  the  king's  lieutenant  took  away  some 
ivory  teeth  of  an  incredible  size  out  of  the  temple,  and  carried 
them  into  Africa,  and  gave  them  to  Masinissa ;  that  at  first 
the  king  was  delighted  with  the  present,  but  afterward,  when 
he  heard  where  they  had  come  from,  he  immediately  sent 
trustworthy  men  in  a  quinquereme  to  take  thosfc  teeth  back; 


560  CiCERO'S  ORATIONS. 

and  that  there  was  engraved  on  them  in  Punic  characters, 
"  that  Masinissa  the  king  had  accepted  them  jgnorantly  ;  but 
that,  when  he  knew  the  truth,  he  had  taken  care  that  they 
should  be  replaced  and  restored."  There  was  besides  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  ivory,  and  many  ornaments,  among  which 
were  some  ivory  Victories  of  ancient  workmanship,  and 
wrought  with  exquisite  skill.  Not  to  dwell  too  long  on  this, 
he  took  care  to  have  all  these  things  taken  down  and  car- 
ried off  at  one  swoop  by  means  of  the  slaves  of  the  Venus 
whom  he  had  sent  thither  for  that  purpose. 

XLVII.  O  ye  immortal  gods !  what  sort  of  man  is  it  that 
I  am  accusing?  Whom  is  it  that  I  am  prosecuting  according 
to  our  laws,  and  by  this  regular  process  ?  Concerning  whom 
is  it  that  you  are  going  to  give  your  judicial  decision  I  The 
deputies  from  Melita  sent  by  the  public  authority  of  their 
state,  say  that  the  shrine  of  Juno  was  plundered ;  that  that 
man  left  nothing  in  that  most  holy  temple ;  that  that  place, 
to  which  the  fleets  of  enemies  often  came,  where  pirates  are 
accustomed  to  winter  almost  every  year,  and  which  no  pirate 
ever  violated,  no  enemy  ever  attacked  before,  was  so  plunder- 
ed by  that  single  man,  that  nothing  whatever  was  left  in  it. 
What,  then,  now  are  we  to  say  of  him  as  a  defendant,  of  me 
as  an  accuser,  of  this  tribunal  1  Is  he  proved  guilty  of  grave 
crimes,  or  is  he  brought  into  this  court  on  mere  suspicion? 
Gods  are  proved  to  have  been  carried  off,  temples  to  have 
been  plundered,  cities  to  have  been  stripped  of  every  thing. 
And  of  those  actions  he  has  left  himself  no  power  of  denying 
one,  no  plea  for  defending  one.  In  every  particular  he  is  con- 
victed by  me ;  he  is  detected  by  the  witnesses ;  he  is  over- 
whelmed by  his  own  admissions ;  he  is  caught  in  the  evident 
commission  of  guilt ;  and  even  now  he  remains  here,  and  in 
silence  recognizes  his  own  crimes  as  I  enumerate  them. 

I  seem  to  myself  to  have  been  too  long  occupied  with  one 
class  of  crime.  I  am  aware,  O  judges,  that  I  have  to  encoun- 
ter the  weariness  of  your  ears  and  eyes  at  such  a  repetition 
of  similar  cases ;  I  will,  therefore,  pass  over  many  instances. 
But  I  entreat  you,  O  judges,  in  the  name  of  the  immortal 
gods,  in  the  name  of  these  very  gods  of  whose  honor  and 
worship  we  have  been  so  long  speaking,  refresh  your  minds 
so  as  to  attend  to  what  I  am  about  to  mention,  while  I  bring 
forward  and  detail  to  you  that  crime  of  his  by  which  the 
whole  province  was  roused,  and  in  speaking  of  which  you 


AGAINST  VERRES.  561 

will  pardon  me  if  I  appear  to  go  back  rather  far,  and  trace 
the  earliest  recollections  of  the  religious  observances  in  ques- 
tion. The  importance  of  the  affair  will  not  allow  me  to  pass 
over  the  atrocity  of  his  guilt  with  brevity. 

XL Y III.  It  is  an  old  opinion,  O  judges,  which  can  be 
proved  from  the  most  ancient  records  and  monuments  of  the 
Greeks,  that  the  whole  island  of  Sicily  was  consecrated  to 
Ceres  and  Libera.  Not  only  did  all  other  nations  think  so, 
but  the  Sicilians  themselves  were  so  convinced  of  it,  that  it 
appeared  a  deeply-rooted  and  innate  belief  in  their  minds. 
For  they  believe  that  these  goddesses  were  born  in  these  dis- 
tricts, and  that  corn  was  first  discovered  in  this  land,  and  that 
Libera  was  carried  off,  the  same  goddess  whom  they  call  Pros- 
erpine, from  a  grove  in  the  territory  of  Emm,  a  place  which, 
because  it  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  is  called  the 
navel  of  Sicilv.  And  when  Ceres  wished  to  seek  her  and 
trace  her  out,  she  is  said  to  have  lit  her  torches  at  those 
flames  which  burst  out  at  the  summit  of  JEtna,  and  carrying 
these  torches  before  her,  to  have  wandered  over  the  whole 
earth.  But  Enna,  where  those  things  which  I  am  speaking  ( 
of  are  said  to  have  been  done,  is  in  a  high  and  lofty  situation, 
on  the  top  of  which  is  a  large  level  plain,  and  springs  of  wa- 
ter which  are  never  dry.  And  the  whole  of  the  plain  is  cut 
off  and  separated,  so  as  to  be  difficult  of  approach.  Around 
it  are  many  lakes  and  groves,  and  beautiful  flowers  at  every 
season  of  the  year ;  so  that  the  place  itself  appears  to  testify- 
to  that  abduction  of  the  virgin  which  we  have  heard  of  from 
our  bovhood.1  Near  it  is  a  cave  turned  toward  the  north,  of 
unfathomable  depth,  where  they  say  that  Father  Pluto  sud- 
denly rose  out  of  the  earth  in  his  chariot,  and  carried  the  vir- 
gin off  from  that  spot,  and  that  on  a  sudden,  at  no  great  dis- 
tance from  Syracuse,  he  wrent  down  beneath  the  earth,  and 
that  immediately  a  lake  sprang  up  in  that  place ;  and  there 
to  this  day  the  Syracusans  celebrate  anniversary  festivals  with 
a  most  numerous  assemblage  of  both  sexes. 

XLIX.  On  account  of  the  antiquity  of  this  belief,  because 
in  those  places  the  traces  and  almost  the  cradles  of  those  gods 
are  found,  the  worship  of  Ceres  of  Enna  prevails  to  a  wonder- 

1  We  have  the  same  advantage  as,  or  rather  greater  advantages  than 
Cicero  in  this  respect ;  for  we  have  heard  the  story  from  our  boyhood 
told  far  more  beautifully  than  any  Sicilian  ever  imagined  it-  See  Ovid, 
Fasti,  iv.  419. 

Aa2 


562  CICERO'S  ORATIONS 

ful  extent,  both  in  private  and  in  public  over  all  Sicily.  In 
truth,  many  prodigies  often  attest  her  influence  and  divine 
powers.  Her  present  help  is  often  brought  to  many  in  crit- 
ical circumstances,  so  that  this  island  appears  not  only  to  be 
loved,  but  also  to  be  watched  over  and  protected  by  her.  Nor 
is  it  the  Sicilians  only,  but  even  all  other  tribes  and  nations 
greatly  worship  Ceres  of  Enna.  In  truth,  if  initiation  into 
those  sacred  mysteries  of  the  Athenians  is  sought  for  with  the 
greatest  avidity,  to  which  people  Ceres  is  said  to  have  come 
iii  that  long  wandering  of  hers,  and  then  she  brought  them 
corn,  how  much  greater  reverence  ought  to  be  paid  to  her 
by  those  people  among  whom  it  is  certain  that  she  was  born, 
and  first  discovered  corn.  And,  therefore,  in  the  time  of  our 
fathers,  at  a  most  disastrous  and  critical  time  to  the  republic, 
when,  after  the  death  of  Tiberius  Gracchus,  there  was  a  fear 
that  great  dangers  were  portended  to  the  state  by  various  prod- 
igies, in  the  consulship  of  Publius  Mucius  and  Lucius  Calpur- 
nius,  recourse  was  had  to  the  Sibylline  books,  in  which  it  was 
found  set  down,  "that  the  most  ancient  Ceres  ought  to  be  ap- 
peased." Then,  priests  of  the  Roman  people,  selected  from 
the  most  honorable  college  of  decemvirs,  although  there  was 
in  our  own  city  a  most  beautiful  and  magnificent  temple  of 
Ceres,  nevertheless  went  as  far  as  Enna.  For  such  was  the 
authority  and  antiquity  of  the  reputation  for  holiness  of  that 
place,  that  when  they  went  thither,  they  seemed  to  be  going 
not  to  a  temple  of  Ceres,  but  to  Ceres  herself.  I  will  not  din 
this  into  your  ears  any  longer.  I  have  been  some  time  afraid 
that  my  speech  may  appear  unlike  the  usual  fashion  of  speech- 
es at  trials,  unlike  the  daily  method  of  speaking.  This  I  say, 
that  this  very  Ceres,  the  most  ancient,  the  most  holy,  the  very 
chief  of  all  sacred  things  which  are  honored  by  every  people, 
and  in  every  nation,  was  carried  off  by  Caius  A^erres  from  her 
temple  and  her  home.  Ye  who  have  been  to  Enna,  have  seen 
a  statue  of  Ceres  made  of  marble,  and  in  the  other  temple  a 
statue  of  Libera.  They  are  very  colossal  and  very  beautiful, 
but  not  exceedingly  ancient.  There  was  one  of  brass,  of  mod- 
erate size,  but  extraordinary  workmanship,  with  the  torches 
in  its  hands,  very  ancient,  by  far  the  most  ancient  of  all  those 
statues  which  are  in  that  temple ;  that  lie.  carried  off,  and  yet 
he  was  not  content  with  that.  Before  the  temple  of  Ceres,  in 
an  open  and  an  uncovered  place,  there  are  two  statues,  one  of 
Ceres,  the  other  of  Triptolemus,  very  beautiful,  and  of  colossal 


AGAINST  VERRES  5C3 

size.  ^Theii-  beauty  was  their  danger,  but  their  size  their  safe- 
ty;  because  the  taking  of  them  down  and  carrying  them  off 
appeared  very  difficult.  But  in  the  right  hand  of  Ceres  there 
stood  a  beautifully-wrought  image  of  Victory ;  and  this  he  had 
wrenched  out  of  the  hand  of  Ceres  and  carried  off. 

L.  What  now  must  be  his  feelings  at  the  recollection  of  his 
crimes,  when  I,  at  the  mere  enumeration  of  them,  am  not  only 
roused  to  indignation  in  my  mind,  but  even  shudder  over  my 
whole  body  ?  For  thoughts  of  that  temple,  of  that  place,  of 
that  holy  religion  come  into  my  mind.  Every  thing  seems 
present  before  my  eyes, — the  day  on  which,  when  I  had  ar- 
rived at  Enna,  the  priests  of  Ceres  came  to  meet  me  with  gar- 
lands of  vervain,  and  with  fillets ;  the  concourse  of  citizens, 
among  whom,  while  I  was  addressing  them,  there  was  such  / 1  * 
weeping  and  groaning  that  the  most  bitter  grief  seemed  to 
have  taken  possession  of  the  whole.  They  did  not  complain 
of  the  absolute  way  in  which  the  tenths  were  levied,  nor  of 
the  plunder  of  property,  nor  of  the  iniquity  of  tribunals,  nor 
of  that  man's  unhallowed  lusts,  nor  of  his  violence,  nor  of  the 
insults  by  which  they  had  been  oppressed  and  overwhelmed. 
It  was  the  divinity  of  Ceres,  the  antiquity  of  their  ?acred  ob- 
servances, the  holy  veneration  due  to  their  temple,  which  they 
wished  should  have  atonement  made  to  them  by  the  punish- 
ment of  that  most  atrocious  and  audacious  man.  They  said 
that  they  could  endure  every  thing  else ;  that  to  every  thing 
else  thev  were  indifferent.  This  indignation  of  theirs  was  so 
great,  that  you  might  suppose  that  Yerres,  like  another  king 
of  hell,  had  come  to  Enna  and  had  carried  off,  not  Proserpine. 
but  Ceres  herself.  And,  in  truth,  that  city  does  not  appeal 
to  be  a  city,  but  a  shrine  of  Ceres.  The  people  of  Enna  think 
that  Ceres  dwells  among  them ;  so  that  they  appear  to  me  not 
to  be  citizens  of  that  city,  but  to  be  all  priests,  to  be  all  min- 
isters and  officers  of  Ceres.  Did  you  dare  to  take  away  out 
of  Enna  the  statue  of  Ceres?  Did  you  ttempt  at  Enna  to 
wrench  Victory  out  of  the  hand  of  Ceres  ?  to  tear  one  goddess 
from  the  other? — nothing  of  which  those  men  dared  to  violate, 
or  even  to  touch,  whose  qualities  were  all  more  akin  to  wick- 
edness than  to  religion.  For  while  Publius  Popillius  and 
Publius  Rupilius  were  consuls,  slaves,  runaway  slaves,  and  bar- 
barians, and  enemies,  were  in  possession  of  that  place  :  tut  yet 
the  slaves  were  not  so  much  slaves  to  their  own  mastej  s,  as  you 
are  to  your  passions ;  nor  <£;«2  *JSe  runaways  flee  from  their  mas- 


564  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

ters  as  far  as  you  flee  from  all  laws  and  from  all  rigliflL  nor 
were  the  barbarians  as  barbarous  in  language  and  in  race  as 
you  are  in  your  nature  and  your  habits  ;  nor  were  the  enemies 
as  much  enemies  to  men  as  you  are  to  the  immortal  gods.  How, 
then,  can  a  man  beg  for  any  mercy  who  has  surpassed  slaves 
in  baseness,  runaway  slaves  in  rashness,  barbarians  in  wicked- 
ness, and  enemies  in  inhumanity'? 

LI.  You  heard  Theodorus  and  Numinius  and  Nieasio,  dep- 
uties from  Enna,  say,  in  the  name  of  their  state,  that  they  had 
this  commission  from  their  fellow-citizens,  to  go  to  Yerres,  and 
to  demand  from  him  the  restoration  of  the  statues  of  Ceres 
and  of  Victory.  And  if  they  obtained  it,  then  they  were  to 
adhere  to  the  ancient  customs  of  the  state  of  Enna,  not  to  give 
any  public  testimony  against  him,  although  he  had  oppressed 
Sicily,  since  these  were  the  principles  which  they  had  received 
from  their  ancestors.  But  if  he  did  not  restore  them,  then 
they  were  to  go  before  the  tribunal,  to  inform  the  judges  of 
the  injuries  they  had  received,  but,  far  above  all  things,  to 
complain  of  the  insults  to  their  religion.  And,  in  the  name 
of  the  immortal  gods,  I  entreat  you,  O  j  udges,  do  not  you  de- 
spise, do  not  you  scorn  or  think  lightly  of  their  complaints. 
The  injuries  done  to  our  allies  are  the  present  question ;  the 
authority  of  the  laws  is  at  stake  ;  the  reputation  and  the  hon- 
esty of  our  courts  of  justice  is  at  stake.  And  though  all  these 
are  great  considerations,  yet  this  is  the  greatest  of  all, — the 
whole  province  is  so  imbued  with  religious  feeling,  such  a  su- 
perstitious dread  arising  out  of  that  man's  conduct  has  seized 
upon  the  minds  of  all  the  Sicilians,  that  whatever  public  or 
private  misfortunes  happen,  appear  to  befall  them  because  of 
that  man's  wickedness.  You  have  heard  the  Centuripans,  the 
Agyrians,  the  Catenans,  the  Herbitans,  the  Ennans,  and  many 
other  deputies  say,  in  the  name  of  their  states,  how  great  was 
the  solitude  in  their  districts,  how  great  the  devastation,  how 
universal  the  flight  of  the  cultivators  of  the  soil ;  how  desert' 
ed,  how  uncultivated,  how  desolate  every  place  was.  And 
although  there  are  many  and  various  injuries  done  by  that 
man  to  which  these  things  are  owing,  still  this  one  cause,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  Sicilians,  is  the  most  weighty  of  all ;  for, 
because  of  the  insults  offered  to  Ceres,  they  believe  that  all 
the  crops  and  gifts  of  Ceres  have  perished  in  these  districts. 
Bring  remedies,  O  judges,  to  the  insulted  religion  of  the  allies  ; 
preserve  your  own,  for  this  is  not  *»  foreign  religion,  nor  one 


AGAINST  VERRES.  565 

with  which  you  have  no  concern.  But  even  if  it  were,  if  you 
were  unwilling  to  adopt  it  yourselves,  still  you  ought  to  be 
willing  to  inflict  heavy  punishment  on  the  man  who  violated 
it.  But  now  that  the  common  religion  of  all  nations  is  attack- 
ed in  this  way,  now  that  these  sacred  observances  are  violated 
which  our  ancestors  adopted  and  imported  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  have  honored  ever  since, — sacred  observances,  which 
they  called  Greek  observances,  as  in  truth  they  were. — even  if 
we  were  to  wish  to  be  indifferent  and  cold  about  these  mat- 
ters, how  could  we  be  so  % 

IJLI.  I  will  mention  the  sacking  of  one  city,  also,  and  that 
the  most  beautiful  and  highly  decorated  of  all,  the  city  of 
Syracuse.  And  I  will  produce  my  proofs  of  that,  O  judges, 
in  order  at  length  to  conclude  and  bring  to  an  end  the  whole 
history  of  offenses  of  this  sort.  There  is  scarcely  any  one  of 
you  who  has  not  often  heard  how  Syracuse  was  taken  by 
Marcus  Marcellus,  and  who  has  not  sometimes  also  read  the 
account  in  our  annals.  Compare  this  peace  with  that  war ; 
the  visit  of  this  praetor  with  the  victory  of  that  general ;  the 
debauched  retinue  of  the  one  with  the  invincible  army  of  the 
other  ;  the  lust  of  Verres  with  the  continence  of  Marcellus  ; — 
and  you  will  say  that  Syracuse  was  built  by  the  man  who 
took  it ;  was  taken  by  the  man  who  received  it  well  estab- 
lished and  flourishing.  And  for  the  present  I  omit  those 
things  which  will  be  mentioned,  and  have  been  already  men- 
tioned by  me  in  an  irregular  manner  in  different  parts  of  my 
speech — that  the  market-place  of  the  Syracusans,  which  at 
the  entrance  of  Marcellus  was  preserved  unpolluted  by  slaugh- 
ter, on  the  arrival  of  Verres  overflowed  with  the  blood  of  in- 
nocent Sicilians ;  that  the  harbor  of  the  Syracusans,  which  at 
that  time  was  shut  against  both  our  fleets  and  those  of  the 
Carthaginians,  was,  while  Verres  was  praetor,  open  to  Cilician 
pirates,  or  even  to  a  single  piratical  galley.  I  say  nothing  of 
the  violence  offered  to  people  of  noble  birth,  of  the  ravishment 
of  matrons,  atrocities  which  then,  when  the  city  was  taken, 
were  not  committed,  neither  through  the  hatred  of  enemies, 
nor  through  military  license,  nor  through  the  customs  of  war 
or  the  rights  of  victory.  I  pass  over,  I  say,  all  these  things 
which  were  done  by  that  man  for  three  whole  years.  Listen 
rather  to  acts  which  are  connected  with  those  matters  of  which 
T  have  hitherto  been  speaking.  You  have  often  heard  that  the 
city  of  Syracuse  is  the  greatest  of  the  Greek  cities,  and  the 


Z66  CICERO'S  ORATIONS.  • 

most  beautiful  of  all.  It  is  so,  O  judges,  as  it  is  said  to  be; 
for  it  is  so  by  its  situation,  which  is  strongly  fortified,  and 
which  is  on  every  side  by  which  you  can  approach  it,  whether 
by  sea  or  land,  very  beautiful  to  behold.  And  it  has  harbors 
almost  inclosed  within  the  walls,  and  in  the  sight  of  the  whole 
city ;  harbors  which  have  different  entrances,  but  which  meet 
together,  and  are  connected  at  the  other  end.  By  their  union 
a  part  of  the  town,  which  is  called  the  island,  being  separated 
from  the  rest  by  a  narrow  arm  of  the  sea,  is  again  joined  to  and 
connected  with  the  other  by  a  bridge. 

LIU.  That  city  is  so  great  that  it  may  be  said  to  consist 
of  four  cities  of  the  largest  size  ;  one  of  which,  as  I  have  said, 
is  that  "Island,"  which,  surrounded  by  two  harbors,  projects 
out  toward  the  mouth  and  entrance  of  each.  In  it  there  is  a 
palace  which  did  belong  to  king  Hiero,  which  our  pra?tors  are 
in  the  habit  of  using ;  in  it  are  many  sacred  buildings,  but 
two,  which  have  a  great  pre-eminence  over  all  the  others, — 
one  a  temple  of  Diana,  and  the  other  one,  which  before  the 
arrival  of  that  man  was  the  most  ornamented  of  all,  sacred  to 
Minerva.  At  the  end  of  this  island  is  a  fountain  of  sweet 
water,  the  name  of  which  is  Arethusa,  of  incredible  size,  very 
full  of  fish,  which  would  be  entirely  overwhelmed  by  the 
waves  of  the  sea,  if  it  were  not  protected  from  the  sea  by  a 
rampart  and  dam  of  stone.  There  is  also  another  city  at 
Syracuse,  the  name  of  which  is  Achradina,  in  which  there  is 
a  very  large  forum,  most  beautiful  porticoes,  a  highly  decora- 
ted town-hall,  a  most  spacious  senate-house,  and  a  superb 
temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  ;  and  the  other  districts  of  the  city 
are  joined  together  by  one  broad  unbroken  street,  and  divided 
by  many  cross-streets,  and  by  private  houses.  There  is  a 
third  city,  which,  because  in  that  district  there  is  an  ancient 
temple  of  Fortune,  is  called  Tyche,  in  which  there  is  a  spa- 
cious gymnasium,  and  many  sacred  buildings,  and  that  district 
is  the  most  frequented  and  the  most  populous.  There  is  also 
a  fourth  city,  which,  because  it  is  the  last  built,  is  called  Ne- 
apolis,1  in  the  highest  part  of  which  there  is  a  very  large  the- 
atre, and,  besides  that,  there  are  two  temples  of  great  beauty, 
one  of  Ceres,  the  other  of  Libera,  and  a  statue  of  Ap<  Ho,  which 

1  Xcapolis  meaning  "new  city,"  or  as  we  might  say.  Newtown,  from 
the  Greek  words  Nea  -o/ir.  as  Tyche  is  the  Greek  name  of  Fortune — 
Tvxtj.  Compare  with  this  passage  the  description  of  Syracuse  given  by 
ThucvHides  in  his  sixth  and  seventh  books. 


AGAINST  VERRES.  567 

is  called  Temenites,  very  beautiful  and  of  colossal  size  ;  which, 
if  he  could  have  moved  them,  he  would  not  have  hesitated  to 

carry  off. 

LIV.  Now  I  will  return  to  Marcellus.  that  I  may  not  ap- 
pear to  have  entered  into  this  statement  without  any  reason. 
He,  when  with  his  powerful  army  he  had  taken  this  splendid 
city,  did  not  think  it  for  the  credit  of  the  Roman  people  to 
destroy  and  extinguish  this  splendor,  especially  as  no  danger 
could  possibly  arise  from  it,  and  therefore  he  spared  all  the 
buildings,  public  as  well  as  private,  sacred  as  well  as  ordinary, 
as  if  he°had  come  with  his  army  for  the  purpose  of  defending 
them,  not  of  taking  them  by  storm.     With  respect  to  the  dec- 
orations of  the  city,  he  had  a  regard  to  his  own  victory,  and 
a  regard  to  humanity ;  he  thought  it  was  due  to  his  victory  to 
transport  many  things  to  Rome  which  might  be  an  ornament 
to  this  city,  and  due  to  humanity  not  utterly  to  strip  the  city, 
especially  as  it  was  one  which  he  was  anxious  to  preserve. 
In  this  division  of  the  ornaments,  the  victory  of  Alarcellus  did 
not  covet  more  for  the  Roman  people  than  his  humanity  re- 
served to  the  Syracusans.     The  things  which  were  transport- 
ed to  Rome  we  see  before  the  temples  of  Honor  and  of  Virtue, 
and  also  in  other  places.     He  put  nothing  in  his  own  house, 
nothing  in  his   gardens,  nothing  in  his  suburban  villa;   he 
thought  that  his  house  could  only  be  an  ornament  to  the  city 
if  h^  abstained  from  carrying  the  ornaments  which  belonged 
to  the  city  to  his  own  house.     But  he  left  many  things  of  ex- 
traordinary beauty  at  Syracuse ;  he  violated  not  the  respect 
due  to  any  god ;   he  laid  hands  on  none.     Compare  Verres 
with  him ;  not  to  compare  the  man  with  the  man, — no  such- 
injury  must  be  done  to  such  a  man  as  that,  dead  though  he  be ; 
but  to  compare  a  state  of  peace  with  one  of  war,  a  state  of 
law  and  order,  and  regular  jurisdiction,  with  one  of  violence 
and  martial  law,  and  the  supremacy  of  arms ;  to  compare  the 
arrival  and  retinue  of  the  one  with  the  victory  and  army  of 

the  other. 

LV.  There  is  a  temple  of  Minerva  in  the  island,  of  which 
I  have  already  spoken,  which  Marcellus  did  not  touch,  which 
he  left  full  of  its  treasures  and  ornaments,  but  which  was  so 
stripped  and  plundered  by  Verres,  that  it  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  hands,  not  of  an  enemy, — for  enemies,  even  in  war,  re- 
spect the  rights  of  religion,  and  the  customs  of  the  country,— 
but  of  some^barbarian  pirates.     There  was  a  cavalry  battle  of 


568  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

their  king  Agathocles,  exquisitely  painted  in  a  series  of  pic- 
tures, and  with  these  pictures  the  inside  walls  of  the  temple 
were  covered.  Nothing  could  be  more  noble  than  those  joint- 
ings; there  was  nothing  at  Syracuse  that  was  thought  more 
worthy  going  to  see.  These  pictures,  Marcus  Marcellus, 
though  by  that  victory  of  his  he  had  divested  every  thing  of 
its  sacred  inviolability  of  character,  still,  out  of  respect  for  re- 
ligion, never  touched ;  Verres,  though,  in  consequence  of  the 
long  peace,  and  the  loyalty  of  the  Syracusan  people,  he  had 
received  them  as  sacred  and  under  the  protection  of  religion, 
took  away  all  those  pictures,  and  left  naked  and  unsightly 
those  walls  whose  decorations  had  remained  inviolate  for  so 
many  ages,  and  had  escaped  so  many  wars :  Marcellus,  who 
had  vowed  that  if  he  took  Syracuse  he  would  erect  two  tem- 
ples at  Rome,  was  unwilling  to  adorn  the  temple  which  he 
was  going  to  build  with  these  treasures  which  were  his  by 
right  of  capture;  Verres,  who  was  bound  by  no  vows  to 
Honor  or  Virtue,  as  Marcellus  was,  but  only  to  Venus  and  to 
Cupid,  attempted  to  plunder  the  temple  of  Minerva.  The  one 
was  unwilling  to  adorn  gods  in  the  spoil  taken  from  gods,  the 
other  transferred  the  decorations  of  the  virgin  Minerva  to  the 
house  of  a  prostitute.  Besides  this,  he  took  away  out  of  the 
same  temple  twenty-seven  more  pictures  beautifully  painted ; 
among  which  were  likenesses  of  the  kings  and  tyrants  of  Sici 
ly,  which  delighted  one,  not  only  by  the  skill  of  the  painter, 
but  also  by  reminding  us  of  the  men,  and  by  enabling  us  to 
recognize  their  persons.  And  see  now,  how  much  worse  a 
tyrant  this  man  proved  to  the  Syracusans  than  ?my  of  the  old 
ones,  as  they,  cruel  as  they  were,  still  adorned  the  temples  of 
the  immortal  gods,  while  this  man  took  away  the  monuments 
and  ornaments  from  the  gods. 

LVI.  But  now  what  shall  I  say  of  the  folding-doors  of 
that  temple  %  I  am  afraid  that  those  who  have  not  seen  these 
things  may  think  that  I  am  speaking  too  highly  of,  and  exag- 
gerating every  thing,  though  no  one  ought  to  suspect  that  I 
should  be  so  inconsiderate  as  to  be  willing  that  so  many  men 
of  the  highest  reputation,  especially  when  they  are  judges  in 
this  cause,  who  have  been  at  Syracuse,  and  who  have  seen  all 
these  things  themselves,  should  be  witnesses  to  my  rashness 
and  falsehood.  I  am  able  to  prove  this  distinctly,  O  judges, 
that  no  more  magnificent  doors,  none  more  beautifully  wrought 
of  gold  and  ivory,  ever  existed  in  any  temple.     It  is  incredible 


AGAINST  VERRES.  569 

how  many  Greeks  have  left  written  accounts  of  the  beauty  of 
these  doors:   they,  perhaps,  may  admire  and  extol  them  too 
much;  be  it  so,  still  it  is  more  honorable  for  our  republic,  O 
judges,  that  our  general,  in  a  time  of  war,  should  have  left 
those  things  which  appeared  to  them  so  beautiful,  than  that 
our  praetor  should  have  carried  them  off  in  a  time  of  peace. 
On  the  folding-doors  were  some  subjects  most  minutely  ex- 
ecuted in  ivory;  all  these  he  caused  to  be  taken  out  ;  he  tore 
off  and  took  away  a  very  fine  head  of  the  Gorgon  with  snakes 
for  hair;   and  he  showed,  too,  that  he  was  influenced  not  only 
by  admiration  for  the  workmanship,  but  by  a  desire  of  money 
and  gain ;  for  he  did  not  hesitate  to  take  away  also  all  the 
golden  knobs  from  these  folding-doors,  which  were  numerous 
and  heavy  ;  and  it  was  not  the  workmanship  of  these,  but  the 
weight  which  pleased  him.     And  so  he  left  the  folding-doors 
in   such  state,  that,   though   they  had   formerly  contributed 
greatly  to  the  ornament  of  the  temple,  they  now  seemed  to 
have  been  made  only  for  the  purpose  of  shutting  it  up.     Am 
I  to  speak  also  of  the  spears  made  of  grass?  for  I  saw  that 
you  were  excited  at  the  name  of  them  when  the  witnesses 
mentioned  them.     They  were  such   that  it  was  sufficient  to 
have  seen  them  once,  as  there  was  neither  any  manual  labor 
in  them,  nor  any  beauty,  but  simply  an  incredible  size,  which 
it  would  be  quite  sufficient  even  to  hear  of,  and  too  much  to 
see  them  more  than  once.      Did  you  covet  even  those  ? 

LVII.  For  the  Sappho  which  was  taken  away  cut  of  the 
town-hall  affords  you  so  reasonable  an  excuse,  that  it  may 
seem  almost  allowable  and  pardonable.  That  work  of  Sila- 
nion,  so  perfect,  so  elegant,  so  elaborate  (I  will  not  say  what 
private  man,  but),  what  nation  could  be  so  worthy  to  possess, 
as  the  most  elegant  and  learned  Yerres  ?  Certainly,  nothing 
can  be  said  against  it.  If  any  one  of  us,  who  are  not  as 
happy,  who  can  not  be  as  refined  as  that  man,  should  wish  to 
behold  any  thing  of  the  sort,  let  him  go  to  the  temple  of  Good 
Fortune,  to  the  monument  of  Catulus,  to  the  portico  of  Metel- 
lus ;  let  him  take  pains  to  get  admittance  into  the  Tusculan 
villa  of  any  one  of  those  men ;  let  him  see  the  forum  when 
decorated,  if  Yerres  is  ever  so  kind  as  to  lend  any  of  his  treas- 
ures to  the  aediles.  Shall  Yerres  have  all  these  tilings  at 
home?  shall  Yerres  have  his  house  full  of,  his  villas  crammed 
with,  the  ornaments  of  temples  and  cities'?  Will  you  still,  O 
judges,  bear  with  the  hobby,  as  he  calls  it,  and  pleasures  of 


) 


570  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

this  vile  artisan  ?  a  man  who  was  born  in  such  a  rank,  edu- 
cated in  such  a  way,  and  who  is  so  formed,  both  in  mind  and 
body,  that  he  appears  a  much  fitter  person  to  take  down  stat- 
ues than  to  appropriate  them.  And  how  great  a  regret  this 
Sappho  which  he  carried  off  left  behind  her,  can  scarcely  be 
told;  for  in  the  first  place  it  was  admirably  made,  and,  be- 
sides, it  had  a  very  noble  Greek  epigram  engraved  upon  the 
pedestal ;  and  would  not  that  learned  man,  that  Grecian,  who 
is  such  an  acute  judge  of  these  matters,  who  is  the  only  man 
who  understands  them,  if  he  had  understood  one  letter  of 
Greek,  have  taken  that  away  too  ?  for  now,  because  it  is  en- 
graved on  an  empty  pedestal,  it  both  declares  what  was  once 
on  the  pedestal,  and  proves  that  it  has  been  taken  away. 
What  shall  I  say  more  ?  Did  you  not  take  away  the  statue 
of  Paean  from  out  of  the  temple  of  7£seulapius,  beautifully 
made,  sacred,  and  holy  as  it  was?  a  statue  which  all  men 
went  to  see  for  its  beauty,  and  worshiped  for  its  sacred  char- 
acter. What  more?  was  not  the  statue  of  Aristasus  openly 
taken  away  by  your  command  out  of  the  temple  of  Bacchus? 
What  more  ?  did  you  not  take  away  out  of  the  temple  of  Ju- 
piter that  most  holy  statue  of  Jupiter  Imperator,  which  the 
Greeks  call  Ovpiog,  most  beautifully  made?  What  next?  did 
you  hesitate  to  take  away  out  of  the  temple  of  Libera,  that 
most  exquisite  bust  of  Parian  marble,  which  we  used  to  go  to 
see?  And  that  Paean  used  to  be  worshiped  among  that  people 
together  with  ^Esculapius,  with  anniversary  sacrifices.  Aris- 
taeus,  who  being,  as  the  Greeks  report,  the  son  of  Bacchus,  is 
said  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  oil,  was  consecrated  among 
them  together  witli  his  father  Bacchus,  in  the  same  temple. 

LVIII.  But  how  great  do  you  suppose  was  the  honor  paid 
to  Jupiter  Imperator  in  his  own  temple?  You  may  collect  it 
from  this  consideration,  if  you  recollect  how  great  was  the 
religious  reverence  attached  to  that  statue  of  the  same  appear- 
ance and  form  which  Flaminius  brought  out  of  Macedonia, 
and  placed  in  the  Capitol.  In  truth,  there  were  said  to  be  in 
the  whole  world  three  statues  of  Jupiter  Imperator,  of  the 
same  class,  all  beautifully  made :  one  was  that  one  from 
Macedonia,  which  we  have  seen  in  the  Capitol ;  a  second  was 
the  one  at  the  narrow  straits,  which  are  the  mouth  of  the 
Euxine  Sea ;  the  third  was  that  which  was  at  Syracuse,  till 
Verres  came  as  praetor.  Flaminius  removed  the  first  from  its 
habitation,  but  only  to  place  it  in  the  Capitol,  that  is  to  say, 


AGAINST  VERRES.  571 

in  the  house  of  Jupiter  upon  earth  ;  but  as  to  the  one  that  is 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Euxinc,  that,  though  so  many  wars 
have  proceeded  from  the  shores  of  that  sea,  and  though  so 
many  have  been  poured  into  Pontus,  has  still  remained  invio- 
late and  untouched  to  this  day.  This  third  one,  which  was 
at  Syracuse,  which  Marcus  Marcellus,  when  in  arms  and  vic- 
torious, had  seen,  which  he  had  spared  to  the  religion  of  the 
place,  which  both  the  citizens  of,  and  settlers  in  Syracuse  were 
used  to  worship,  and  strangers  not  only  visited,  but  often 
venerated,  Caius  Verres  took  away  from  the  temple  of  Jupiter. 
To  return  again  to  Marcellus.  Judge  of  the  case,  O  judges, 
in  this  way  ;  think  that  more  gods  were  lost  to  the  Syracusans 
owing  to  the  arrival  of  Verres,  than  even  were  owing  to  the 
victory  of  Marcellus.  In  truth,  he  is  said  to  have  sought  dili- 
gently for  the  great  Archimedes,  a  man  of  the  highest  genius 
and  skill,  and  to  have  been  greatly  concerned  when  he  heard 
that  he  had  been  killed ;  but  that  other  man  sought  for  every 
thing  which  he  did  seek  for,  not  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
it,  but  of  carrying  it  away. 

LIX.  At  present,  then,  all  those  things  which  might  appear 
more  insignificant,  I  will  on  that  account  pass  over — how  he 
took  away  Delphic  tables  made  of  marble,  beautiful  goblets  of 
brass,  an  immense  number  of  Corinthian  vases,  out  of  every 
sacred  temple  at  Syracuse;  and  therefore,  O  judges,  those 
men  who  are  accustomed  to  take  strangers  about  to  all  those 
things  which  are  worth  going  to  see,  and  to  show  them  every 
separate  thing,  whom  they  call  mystagogi  (or  cicerones),  now 
have  their  description  of  things  reversed  ;  for  as  they  formerly 
used  to  show  what  there  was  in  every  place,  so  now  they  show 
what  has  been  taken  from  every  place. 

What  do  you  think,  then  1  Do  you  think  that  those  men 
are  affected  with  but  a  moderate  indignation?  Not  so,  O 
judges:  in  the  first  place,  because  all  men  are  influenced  by 
religious  feeling,  and  think  that  their  paternal  gods,  whom 
they  have  received  from  their  ancestors,  are  to  be  carefully 
worshiped  and  retained  by  themselves  ;  and  secondly,  because 
this  sort  of  ornament,  these  works  and  specimens  of  art,  these 
statues  and  paintings,  delight  men  of  Greek  extraction  to  an 
excessive  degree  ;  therefore  by  their  complaints  we  can  under- 
stand that  these  things  appear  most  bitter  to^those  men,  which 
perhaps  may  seem  trifling  and  contemptible  to  us.  Believe 
me,  O  judges,  although  I  am  aware  to  a  certainty  that  you 


572  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

yourselves  hear  the  same  things ;  that  though  both  our  alliep 
and  foreign  nations  have  during  these  past  years  sustained 
many  calamities  and  injuries,  yet  men  of  Greek  extraction 
have  not  been,  and  are  not,  more  indignant  at  any  than  at 
this  ruthless  plundering  of  their  temples  and  altars.  Although 
that  man  may  say  that  he  bought  these  things,  as  he  is  accus- 
tomed to  say,  yet,  believe  me  in  this,  O  judges, — no  city  in  all 
Asia  or  in  all  Greece  has  ever  sold  one  statue,  one  picture,  or 
one  decoration  of  the  city,  of  its  own  free  will  to  any  body. 
Unless,  perchance,  you  suppose  that,  after  strict  judicial  de- 
cisions had  ceased  to  take  place  at  Rome,  the  Greeks  then  be- 
gan to  sell  these  things,  which  they  not  only  did  not  sell  when 
there  wrere  courts  of  justice  open,  but  which  they  even  used  to 
buy  up;  or  unless  you  think  that  Lucius  Crassus,  Quintus 
Scaevola,  Caius  Claudius,  most  powerful  men,  whose  most 
splendid  aedileships  we  have  seen,  had  no  dealings  in  those 
sort  of  matters  with  the  Greeks,  but  that  those  men  had  such 
dealings  who  became  aediles  after  the  destruction  of  the  courts 
of  justice. 

LX.  Know  also  that  that  false  pretense  of  purchase  was 
more  bitter  to  the  cities  than  if  any  one  were  privily  to  filch 
things,  or  boldly  to  steal  them  and  carry  them  off.  For  they 
think  it  the  most  excessive  baseness,  that  it  should  be  entered 
on  the  public  records  that  the  city  was  induced  by  a  price, 
and  by  a  small  price  too,  to  sell  and  alienate  those  things 
which  it  had  received  from  men  of  old.  In  truth,  the  Greeks 
delight  to  a  marvelous  degree  in  those  things,  which  we  de- 
spise. And  therefore  our  ancestors  willingly  allowed  those 
things  to  remain  in  numbers  among  the  allies,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  as  splendid  and  as  nourishing  as  possible  under 
our  dominion  ;  and  among  those  nations  whom  they  rendered 
taxable  or  tributary,1  still  they  left  these  things,  in  order  that 
they  who  take  delight  in  those  things  which  to  us  seem  insig- 
nificant, might  have  them  as  pleasures  and  consolations  in 
slavery.  What  do  you  think  that  the  Rhegians,  who  now  are 
Roman  citizens,  would  take  to  allow  that  marble  Venus  to  be 
taken  from  them?  What  would  the  Tarentines  take  to  lose 
the  Europa  sitting  on  the  Bull?  or  the  Satyr  which  they  have 

1  The  Latin  is  "  quos  vectigales  aut  stipendiarius  fuerant"' — "  Stipc?i- 
diarii  and  vectigales  are  thus  distinguished  :  Stipendiarn  are  those  who 
pay  annually  a  fixed  sum  as  tribute  ;  vectigales,  those  who  pay  in  pro- 
portion to  their  property  or  income." — Riddle's  Diet.  v.  Stipendiariut. 


AGAINST  VERRES.  573 

in  the  temple  of  Vesta  ?  or  their  other  monuments  *?  What 
would  the  Thespians  take  to  lose  the  statue  of  Cupid,  the  only 
object  for  which  any  one  ever  goes  to  see  Thespiae?  What 
would  the  men  of  Cnidos  take  for  their  marble  Venus'?  or  the 
Coans  for  their  picture  of  her  ?  or  the  Ephesians  for  Alexan- 
der? the  men  of  Cyzicus  for  their  Ajax  or  Medea*?  What 
would  the  Rhodians  take  for  Jalysus'?  the  Athenians  for  their 
marble  Bacchus,  or  their  picture  of  Paralus,  or  their  brazen 
Heifer,  the  work  of  Myron  1  It  would  be  a  long  business  and 
an  unnecessary  one,  to  mention  what  is  worth  going  to  see 
among  all  the  diiferent  nations  in  all  Asia  and  Greece ;  but 
that  is  the  reason  why  I  am  enumerating  these  things,  because 
I  wish  you  to  consider  that  an  incredible  indignation  must  be 
the  feeling  of  those  men  from  whose  cities  these  things  are 
carried  away. 

LXI.  And  to  say  nothing  of  other  nations,  judge  of  the 
Syracusans  themselves.     For  when   I  went  to  Syracuse,  I 
originally  believed  what  I  had  heard  at  Rome  from  that  man's 
friends,  that  the  city  of  Syracuse,  on  account  of  the  inherit- 
ance of  Heraclius,  was  no  less  friendly  to  him  than  the  city  of 
the  Mamertines,  because  of  their  participation  in  all  his  booty 
and  robberies.     And  at  the  same  time  I  was  afraid  that,  owing 
to  the  influence  of  the  high-born  and  beautiful  women  at  whose 
will  he  had  directed  all  the  measures  of  his  prastorship  for  three 
years,  and  of  the  men  to  whom  they  were  married,  I  should  be 
opposed  not  only  by  an  excessive  lenity,  but  even  by  a  feeling 
of  liberality  toward  that  man,  if  I  were  to  seek  for  any  evi- 
dence out  of  the  public  records  of  the  Syracusans.     Therefore 
when  at  Syracuse  I  was  chiefly  with  Roman  citizens ;  I  copied 
out  their  papers ;  I  inquired  into  their  injuries.     As  I  was  a 
long  time  occupied  by  that  business,  in  order  to  rest  a  little 
and  to  give  my  mind  a  respite  from  care,  I  returned  to  those 
fine  documents  of  Carpinatius ;   in  which,  in  company  with 
some  of  the  most  honorable  knights  of  the  body  of  Roman 
settlers,  I  unraveled  the  case  of  those  Verrutii,  whom  I  have 
mentioned  before,  but  I  expected  no  aid  at  all,  either  publicly 
or  privately,  from  the  Syracusans,  nor  had  I  any  idea  of  ask- 
ing for  any.     While  I  was  doing  this,  on  a  sudden  Heraclius 
came  to  me,  who  was  in  office  at  Syracuse,  a  man  of  high  birth, 
who  had  been  priest  of  Jupiter,  which  is  the  highest  honor 
among  the  Syracusans ;  he  requests  of  me  and  of  my  brother, 
if  \ve°have  no  objection,  to  go  to  their  senate ;  that  they  were 


574  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

at  that  moment  assembled  in  full  numbers  in  the  senate-house, 
and  he  said  that  he  made  this  request  to  us  to  attend  by  com- 
mand of  the  senate.  At  first  we  were  in  doubt  what  to  do ; 
but  afterward  it  soon  occurred  to  us  that  we  ought  not  to 
shun  that  assembly  or  that  place. 

LXIL  Therefore  we  came  to  the  senate-house;  they  all 
rise  at  our  entry  to  do  us  honor.  We  sat  down  at  the  request 
of  the  magistrates.  Diodorus  the  son  of  Timarehides,  who 
was  the  first  man  in  that  body  both  in  influence  and  in  age, 
and  also  as  it  seemed  to  me  in  experience  and  knowledge  of 
business,  began  to  speak  ;  and  the  first  sentence  of  his  speech 
was  to  tins  effect — That  the  senate  and  people  of  Syracuse 
were  grieved  and  indignant,  that,  though  in  all  the  other  cities 
of  Sicily  I  had  informed  the  senate  and  people  of  what  I  pro- 
posed for  their  advantage  or  for  their  safety,  and  though  I  had 
received  from  them  all  commissions,  deputies,  letters  and  evi- 
dence, yet  in  that  city  I  had  done  nothing  of  that  sort.  I  an- 
swered, that  deputies  from  the  Syracusans  had  net  been  present 
at  Rome  in  that  assembly  of  the  Sicilians  when  my  assistance 
was  entreated  by  the  common  resolution  of  all  the  deputations, 
and  when  the  cause  of  the  whole  of  Sicily  was  intrusted  to 
me ;  and  that  I  could  not  ask  that  any  decree  should  be  pass- 
ed against  Caius  Verres  in  that  senate-house  in  which  I  saw 
a  gilt  statue  of  Caius  Verres.  And  after  I  said  that,  such  a 
groaning  ensued  at  the  sight  and  mention  of  the  statue,  that 
it  appeared  to  have  been  placed  in  the  senate-house  as  a  mon- 
ument of  his  wickednesses  and  not  of  his  services.  Then  every 
one  for  himself,  as  fast  as  each  could  manage  to  speak,  began 
to  give  me  information  of  those  things  which  I  have  just  now 
mentioned  ;  to  tell  me  that  the  city  was  plundered — the  tem- 
ples stripped  of  their  treasures — that  of  the  inheritance  of 
Heraclius,  which  he  had  adjudged  to  the  men  of  the  palaestra, 
he  had  taken  by  far  the  greatest  share  himself;  and  indeed, 
that  they  could  not  expect  that  he  should  care  for  the  men  of 
the  palsestra,  when  he  had  taken  away  even  the  god  who  was 
the  inventor  of  oil ;  that  that  statue  had  neither  been  made  at 
the  public  expense,  nor  erected  by  public  authority,  but  that 
those  men  who  had  been  the  sharers  in  the  plunder  of  the  in- 
heritance of  Heraclius,  had  had  it  made  and  placed  where  it 
was  ;  and  that  those  same  men  had  been  the  deputies  at  Rome, 
who  had  been  his  assistants  in  dishonesty,  his  partners  in  his 
thofts, and  the  witnesses  of  his  debaucheries;  and  that  there- 


AGAINST  VERRES.  575 

fore  I  ought  the  less  to  wonder  if  they  were  wanting  to  the 
unanimity  of  the  deputies  and  to  the  safety  of  Sicily. 

LXIII.  When  I  perceived  that  their  indignation  at  that 
man's  injuries  was  not  only  not  less,  but  almost  greater  than 
that  of  the  rest  of  the  Sicilians,  then  I  explained  my  own  in- 
tentions to  them,  and  my  whole  plan  and  system  with  reference 
to  the  whole  of  the  business  which  I  had  undertaken  ;  then  I 
exhorted  them  not  to  be  wanting  to  the  common  cause  and 
the  common  safety,  and  to  rescind  that  panegyric  which  they 
had  voted  a  few  days  before,  being  compelled,  as  they  said,  by 
violence  and  fear.  Accordingly,  O  judges,  the  Syracusans, 
that  man's  clients  and  friends,  do  this.  First  of  all,  they  pro- 
duce to  me  the  public  documents,  which  they  had  carefully 
stored  up  in  the  most  sacred  part  of  the  treasury ;  in  which 
they  show  me  that  every  thing,  which  I  have  said  had  been 
taken  away,  was  entered,  and  even  more  things  than  I  was 
able  to  mention.  And  they  were  entered  in  this  way. 
"  What  had  been  taken  out  of  the  temple  of  Minerva  .  .  . 
This,  .  .  .  and  that."  "  "What  was  missing  out  of  the  tem- 
ple of  Jupiter."  "What  was  missing  out  of  the  temple  of 
Bacchus."  As  each  individual  had  had  the  charge  of  protect- 
ing and  preserving  those  things,  so  it  was  entered ;  that  each, 
when  according  to  law  he  gave  in  his  accounts,  being  bound 
to  give  up  what  he  had  received,  had  begged  that  he  might  be  v  . 
pardoned  for  the  absence  of  these  things,  and  that  all  had  ac- 
cordingly been  released  from  liability  on  that  account,  and  that 
it  was  kept  secret ;  all  which  documents  I  took  care  to  have 
sealed  up  with  the  public  seal  and  brought  away.  But  con- 
cerning the  public  panegyric  on  him  this  explanation  wa? 
given  :  that  at  first,  when  the  letters  arrived  from  Verres  about 
the  panegyric,  a  little  while  before  my  arrival,  nothing  had 
been  decreed ;  and  after  that,  when  some  of  his  friends  urged 
them  that  it  ought  to  be  decreed,  they  were  rejected  with  the  \i\ 
greatest  outcry  and  the  bitterest  reproaches  ;  but  when  I  was 
on  the  point  of  arriving,  then  he  who  at  that  time  was  the 
chief  governor  had  commanded  them  to  decree  it,  and  that  it 
had  been  decreed  in  such  a  manner  that  the  panegyric  did 
him  more  damage  than  it  could  have  done  him  good.  So  now, 
judges,  do  you  receive  the  truth  of  that  matter  from  me  just 
as  it  was  shown  to  me  by  them. 

LXIV.  It  is  a  custom  at  Syracuse,  that,  if  a  motion  on  any 
subject  is  brought  before  the  senate,  whoever  wishes,  gives  his 


676  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

opinion  on  it.  No  one  is  asked  by  name  for  his  sentiments; 
nevertheless,  those  are  accustomed  to  speak  first  of  their  own 
accord,  and  naturally,  according  as  they  are  superior  in  honor 
or  in  age ;  and  that  precedence  is  yielded  to  them  by  the  rest ; 
but,  if  at  any  time  all  are  silent,  then  they  are  compelled  to 
speak  by  lot.  This  was  the  custom  when  the  motion  was 
made  respecting  the  panegyric  of  Verres.  On  which  subject. 
at  first  great  numbers  speak,  in  order  to  delay  coming  to  any 
vote,  and  interpose  this  objection,  that  formerly,  when  they 
had  heard  that  there  was  a  prosecution  instituted  against  Sex- 
./  tus  Peducaeus,  who  had  deserved  admirably  well  of  that  city 
S^  and  of  the  whole  province,  and  when,  in  return  for  his  numer- 
ous and  important  services,  they  wished  to  vote  a  panegyric 
on  him,  they  had  been  prohibited  from  doing  so  by  Caius  Ver- 
res; and  that  it  would  be  an  unjust  thing,  although  Peducams 
had  now  no  need  of  their  praise,  still  not  to  vote  that  which 
at  one  time  they  had  been  eager  to  vote,  before  decreeing  what 
they  would  only  decree  from  compulsion.  All  shout  in  assent, 
and  say  approvingly  that  that  is  what  ought  to  be  done.  So 
the  question  about  Peducaeus  is  put  to  the  senate.  Each  man 
gave  his  opinion  in  order,  according  as  he  had  precedence  in 
age  and  honor.  You  may  learn  this  from  the  resolution  it- 
self; for  the  opinions  delivered  by  the  chief  men  are  generally 
recorded.     Read — 

[The  list  of  speeches  made  on  the  subject  of  Sextus  Peducams  is 

read.'] 

It  says  who  were  the  chief  supporters  of  the  motion.  The 
vote  is  carried.  Then  the  question  about  Verres  is  put.  Tell 
me,  I  pray,  what  happened. 

[The  list  of  speeches  made  on  the  subject  of  Caius  Verres  .  .  .  .] 
Well  what  comes  next? 

*\  [As  no  one  rose,  and  no  one  delivered  his  opinion  .  .  .  .] 

What  is  this? 

[They  j)Toceed  by  lot] 

Why  was  this?  Was  no  one  a  willing  praiser  of  your  prae- 
torship,  or  a  willing  defender  of  you  from  danger,  especially 
when  by  being  so  he  might  have  gained  favor  with  the  prae- 
tor?    No  one.     Those  very  men  who  used  to  feast  with  you, 


AGAINST  VERRES.  577 

your  advisers  and  accomplices,  did  not  venture  to  utter  a  word, 
In  that  very  senate-house  in  which  a  statue  of  yourself  and 
a  naked  statue  of  your  son  were  standing,  was  there  no  one 
whom  even  your  naked  son  in  a  province  stripped  naked  could 
move  to  compassion  ?  Moreover  they  inform  me  also  of  this, 
that  they  had  passed  the  vote  of  panegyric  in  such  a  form  that 
all  men  might  see  that  it  was  not  a  panegyric,  but  rather  a 
satire,  to  remind  every  one  of  his  shameful  and  disastrous  proc- 
torship. For  in  truth  it  was  drawn  up  in  these  words.  "Be- 
cause he  had  scourged  no  one."  From  which  you  are  to  un- 
derstand, that  he  had  caused  most  noble  and  innocent  men  to 
be  executed.  "Because  he  had  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
province  with  vigilance,"  when  all  his  vigils  were  well  known 
to  have  been  devoted  to  debauchery  and  adultery ;  moreover, 
there  was  this  clause  added,  which  the  defendant  could  never 
venture  to  produce,  and  the  accuser  would  never  cease  to 
dwell  upon ;  "  Because  Verres  had  kept  all  pirates  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  island  of  Sicily;"  men  who  in  his  time  had 
entered  even  into  the  "island"  of  Syracuse.  And  after  I  had 
received  this  information  from  them,  I  departed  from  the  sen- 
ate-house with  my  brother,  in  order  that  they  might  decree 
what  they  chose. 

LXV.  Immediately  they  pass  a  decree.  First,  "  That  my 
brother  Lucius  should  be  connected  with  the  city  by  ties  of 
hospitality;"  because  he  had  shown  the  same  good-will  to  the 
Syracusans  that  I  had  always  felt  myself.  That  they  not  only 
wrote  at  that  time,  but  also  had  engraved  on  brazen  tablets 
«,nd  presented  to  us.  Truly  very  fond  of  you  are  your  Syra- 
cusans whom  you  are  always  talking  of,  who  think  it  quite  a 
sufficient  reason  for  forming  an  intimate  connection  with  your 
accuser,  that  he  is  going  to  be  your  accuser,  and  that  he  has 
come  among  them  for  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  inquiries 
against  you.  After  that,  a  decree  is  passed,  not  with  any  dif- 
ference of  opinion,  but  almost  unanimously,  "  That  the  pane- 
gyric which  had  been  decreed  to  Caius  Verres,  be  rescinded." 
But,  when  not  only  the  vote  had  been  come  to,  but  when  it 
had  even  been  drawn  up  in  due  form  and  entered  in  the  rec- 
ords, an  appeal  is  made  to  the  praetor.  But  who  makes  this 
appeal  1  Any  magistrate  ?  No.  Any  senator  ?  Not  even 
that.  Any  Syracusan  ?  Far  from  it.  Who,  then,  appeals  to 
the  praetor?  The  man  who  had  been  Verres's  quaestor,  Caese- 
tius.     Oh,  the  ridiculous  business !     Oh,  the  deserted  man!     O 

Bb 


578  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

man  despaired  of  and  abandoned  by  the  Sicilian  magistracy  ! 
In  order  to  prevent  the  Sicilians  passing  a  resolution  of  the 
senate,  or  from  obtaining  their  rights  according  to  their  own 
customs  and  their  own  laws,  an  appeal  is  made  to  the  praetor, 
not  by  any  friend  of  his,  not  by  any  connection,  not,  in  short, 
by  any  Sicilian,  but  by  his  own  quaestor.  "Who  saw  this? 
Who  heard  it?  That  just  and  wise  praetor  orders  the  senate 
to  be  adjourned.  A  great  multitude  Hocks  to  me.  First  of 
all,  the  senators  cry  out  that  their  rights  are  being  taken  away ; 
that  their  liberty  is  being  taken  away.  The  people  praise  the 
senate  and  thank  them.  The  Roman  citizens  do  not  leave  me. 
•  And  on  that  day  I  had  no  harder  task,  than  with  all  my  ex- 
ertions to  prevent  violent  hands  being  laid  on  the  man  who 
made  that  appeal.  When  we  had  gone  before  the  praetor's 
£V tribunal,  he  deliberates,  forsooth,  diligently  and  carefully  what 
decision  he  shall  give ;  for,  before  I  say  one  word,  he  rises 
from  his  seat,  and  departs.  And  so  wre  departed  from  the  fo- 
rum when  it  was  now  nearly  evening. 

LXVI.  The  next  day,  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  I  beg 
of  him  to  allow  the  Syracusans  to  give  me  a  copy  of  the  reso- 
lution which  they  had  passed  the  day  before.  But  he  refuses, 
and  says  that  it  is  a  great  shame  for  me  to  have  made  a  speech 
in  a  Greek  senate ;  and  that,  as  for  my  having  spoken  in  the 
Greek  language  to  Greeks,  that  was  a  thing  which  could  not 
be  endured  at  all.  I  answered  the  man  as  I  could,  as  I  chose, 
find  as  I  ought.  Among  other  things,  I  recollect  that  I  said 
that  it  was  easy  to  be  seen  how  great  was  the  difference  be- 
tween him  and  the  great  Numidicus,  the  real  and  genuine  Mc- 
tellus.  That  that  Metellus  had  refused  to  assist  with  his  pan- 
egyric Lucius  Lucullus,  his  sister's  husband,  with  whom  he 
was  on  the  very  best  terms,  but  that  he  was  procuring  pane- 
gyrics from  cities  for  a  man  totally  unconnected  with  himself, 
by  violence  and  compulsion.  But  when  I  understood  that  it 
was  many  recent  messengers,  and  many  letters,  not  of  intro- 
duction but  of  credit,  that  had  had  so  much  influence  over 
him,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Syracusans  themselves  I  make 
a  seizure  of  those  documents  in  which  the  resolutions  of  the 
senate  were  recorded.  And  now  behold  a  fresh  confusion  and 
strife.  That,  however,  you  may  not  suppose  that  he  was  with- 
out any  friends  or  connections  at  Syracuse,  that  he  was  en- 
tirely desolate  and  forsaken,  a  man  of  the  name  of  Theoinnas- 
tus,  a  man  ridiculously  crazy,  whom  the  Syracusans  call  The- 


AGAINST  VERRES.  5"?<J 

oractus,1  attempted  to  detain  those  documents;  a  man  in  such 
a   condition,  that  the  boys  follow  him,  and  that   every  one 
laughs  at  him  every  time  he  opens  his  mouth.     But  his  era- 
ziness,  which  is  ridiculous  to  others,  was  then  in  truth  very 
troublesome  to  me.     For  while  he  was  foaming  at  the  mouth, 
his  eyes  glaring,  and  he  crying  out  as  loud  as  he  could  that 
I  was  attacking  him  with  violence,  we  came  together  before 
the  tribunal.     Then  I  began  to  beg  to  be  allowed  to  seal  up 
and  carry  away  the  records.     He  spoke  against  me ;  he  de- 
nied that  there  had  been  any  regular  resolution  of  the  senate 
passed,  since  an  appeal  had  been  made  to  the  praetor.     He 
said  that  a  copy  of  it  ought  not  to  be  given  to  me.     I  read 
the  act,  that  I  was  to  be  allowed  all  documents  and  records. 
He.  like  a  crazy  man  as  he  was,  urged  that  our  laws  had 
nothing  to  do  with  him.      That   intelligent  praetor  decided 
that  he  did  not  choose,  as  the  resolution  of  the  senate  had  no 
business  ever  to  be  ratified,  to  allow  me  to  take  a  copy  of  it 
to  Rome.    Not  to  make  a  long  story  of  it,  if  I  had  not  threat- 
ened the  man  vigorously,  if  I  had  not  read  to  him  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act  passed  in  this  case,  and  the  penalties  enacted 
by  it,  I  should  not  have  been  allowed  to  have  the  documents. 
But  that  crazy  fellow,  who  had  declaimed  against  me  most 
violently  on  behalf  of  Verres,  when  he  found  he  did  not  suc- 
ceed, in  order  I  suppose  to  recover  my  favor,  gives  me  a  book 
in  which  all  Yerres's  Syracusan  thefts  were  set  down,  which 
I  had  already  been  informed  of  by,  and  had  a  list  of  from 
them. 

LXVTI.  Now,  then,  let  the  Mamertines  praise  you,  who  are 
the  only  men  of  ail  that  large  province  who  wish  you  to  get 
oif ;  but  let  them  praise  you  on  condition  that  Heius,  who  is 
the  chief  man  of  that  deputation,  is  present ;  let  them  praise 
you  on  condition  that  they  are  here,  ready  to  reply  to  me  on 
those  points  concerning  which  they  are  questioned.  And  that 
they  may  not  be  taken  by  surprise  on  a  sudden,  this  is  what 
I  shall  ask  them : — Are  they  bound  to  furnish  a  ship  to  the 
Homan  people?  They  will  admit  it.  Have  they  supplied  it 
while  Verres  was  prastor?  They  will  say,  No.  Have  they 
built  an  enormous  transport  at  the  public  expense  which  they 
have  given  to  Verres  %     They  will  not  be  able  to  deny  it.     Has 

1  Theoractus  seems  a  sort  of  nickname,  to  indicate  his  insanity,  being 
derived  from  Qebg,  God,  and  ^yvvfit,  to  break  ;  while  Theomnastus  \» 
derived  from  Qebc  and  ,uejxv?]/uac,  to  remember. 


580  CICERO'S  ORATIONS. 

• 

Vc  i  j  taken  corn  from  them  to  send  to' the  Roman  people,  a* 
- .edecessor  did '?  They  will  say,  No.  What  soldiers  or 
jailors  have  they  furnished  during  those  three  years?  They 
will  say  they  furnished  none  at  all.  They  will  not  be  able  to 
deny  that  Messana  has  been  the  receiver  of  all  his  plunder  and 
all  his  robberies.  They  will  confess  that  an  immense  quantity 
of  things  were  exported  from  that  city  ;  and  besides  that,  that 
this  large  vessel  given  to  him  by  the  Mamertines,  departed 
loaded  when  the  pnetor  left  Sicily.  You  are  welcome,  then, 
to  that  panegyric  of  the  Mamertines.  As  for  the  city  of  Syr- 
acuse, we  see  that  that  feels  toward  you  as  it  has  been  treated 
by  you  ;  and  among  them  that  infamous  Verrean  festival,  in- 
stituted by  you,  has  been  abolished.  In  truth,  it  was  a  most 
unseemly  thing  for  honors  such  as  belong  to  the  gods  to  be 
paid  to  the  man  who  had  carried  off  the  images  of  the  gods. 
In  truth,  that  conduct  of  the  Syracusans  would  be  deservedly 
reproached,  if,  when  they  had  struck  a  most  celebrated  and 
solemn  day  of  festival  games  out  of  their  annals,  because  on 
that  day  Syracuse  was  said  to  have  been  taken  by  Marcellus, 
they  should,  notwithstanding,  celebrate  a  day  of  festival  in  the 
name  of  Verres  ;  though  he  had  plundered  the  Syracjasans  of 
all  which  that  day  of  disaster  had  left  them.  But  observe  the 
shamelessness  and  arrogance  of  the  man,  O  judges,  who  not 
only  instituted  this  disgraceful  and  ridiculous  Verrean  festival 
out  of  the  money  of  Heraclius,  but  who  also  ordered  the  Mar- 
cellean  festival  to  be  abolished,  in  order  that  they  might  every 
year  offer  sacrifices  to  the  man  by  whose  means  they  had  lost 
the  sacred  festivals  which  they  had  ever  observed,  and  had  lost 
their  national  deities,  and  that  they  might  take  away  the  fes- 
tival days  in  honor  of  that  family  by  whose  means  they  had 
recovered  all  their  other  festivals. 


THE   END. 


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